History was made on camera Tuesday when former

US

President

donald j

Trump’s motorcade made it from downtown to Lower Manhattan in minutes and then to LaGuardia

a

airport in a record-breaking half hour. During rush hour. On the

notoriously busy?

BKE.

The stunning feat of traffic rioting was dramatic compared to the truly historic event that brought Trump to the Big Apple:

It, what

the first time

ever

that a former U

.

S

.

president was arrested and prosecuted. The charges stem from an investigation in the area

An. alleged

payout

Through

Trump’s former attorney his attorney at the time

Michael Cohen

to adult film star Stormy Daniels

during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. It was an attempt

to keep her from revealing an affair she had with Trump

a decade earlier

. The 34 indictments, unsealed Tuesday, outlined attempts to hide damaging information about Trump

,

if exposed, it can influence voters’ decisions at the polls.

The weighty nature of the matter and the powder keg tensions of a divided electorate guaranteed the day would go down in history, but those dynamics didn’t necessarily translate into scintillating live television.

From the early morning hours

other

Legions of press and media swarmed Mar-a-Lago, La

G

Cardia Airport, Trump Tower

S

and the

lower

Manhattan

Criminal Court

, filmed the motorcade and plane from the ground, the sky and every vantage point in between. Despite the general coverage, there was little to see in the way of real courtroom drama or even dry proceedings, and Trump’s much-anticipated perpetrator walk was instead a few lumbering, anticlimactic steps from his vehicle to the doors of the courthouse. The showman president would have to wait until he returned to Mar-a-Lago to catch the story in a speech

he gave on TK on Tuesday night, we can add the details as it happens

.

Viewers watched as A modern

media,

that is

used to ubiquitous, lightning-fast coverage, had to adapt

his pace

to the wheels of justice, which still spin slowly and off-camera when ordered by a judge (as was the case in Trump’s indictment).

good lineOn-site r R

reporters

on sight

other

Studio

anchors

in the studio

found creative ways to fill all those hours

if they like

to wait

ed from before

Trump to leave or arrive. Cameras focused on the legions of law enforcement vehicles and stationary NYPD officers flanking Trump Tower

S

the route to the courthouse, the airport

and so forth

. The old adage of drying paint came to mind. Multiple legal experts tried to fill it

unmoved

airtime on CNN, FOX, MSNBC with chatter

,

and, depending on the network,

they either

explained the basics of an arrangement, labeled it a witch hunt or referred

red

to the indictment as the start of an onslaught of lawsuits against the former president.

Anchors reached to make the slow footage of a plane standing on the tarmac more fun: the plane is more than 30 years old and belonged to a Mexican airline, noted

a reporter someone

on msnbc. Fox pundits focused on how Biden’s silence spoke volumes, meaning viewers were free to fill in that blank space with their favorite conspiracy theory.

Since live feeds from the courtroom were not allowed, the press covered what happened behind closed doors

the

busy stairways and sidewalks

outside

. They shouted their reports over the noise and described unremarkable innocent pleas against

the news broadcasts still

Shots of Trump grimacing in court

Juan Manuel Mercan

.

Demonstrators and spectators in the streets accentuated the intensity of the day, as did the beckoning tourists in the double-decker tour bus that passed his motorcade. taxis, never-ending construction. protesters

from both sides of the political spectrum argued outside the courtroom, underscoring the anticipation and tension leading up to the indictment. Would it be an explosive event on the scale of January 6, or worse? Would be a provocative appearance from Representative Marjorie Taylor Green

e(R-Ga.)’s

create even more furor outside the courthouse? But it seemed there were more press and curious bystanders than anything, from ogling tourists on a double-decker tour bus passing its motorcade to a woman casually walking her dog outside

the trump

Tower.

Hardly the high drama that makes for good television,

But

that is

OK

. A dull, austere event feels new and necessary after the chaos of the

last past

seven years. The lackluster accountability process overshadowed showmanship, at least for half a day, before Trump’s post-impeachment rally, where he turned his anger into yet another fundraising opportunity.