“My garage is empty!” a distraught parking proprietor declared in midtown Manhattan on Monday night. “I’m losing money with Trump!”
The streets were overflowing with befuddled ticketholders scrambling across thoroughfares in search of an entrance to Madison Square Garden and bemused observers pointing them in the right direction. A woman screamed “fuck Donald Trump!” after tangling with a police officer standing guard at a barricade; “Donald Trump ain’t shit, bro,” a meandering passerby announced to no one in particular. Weed and “Knicks in four!” chants were in the air as the president’s motorcade pulled into the arena about an hour before tip-off of game three of the NBA finals.
For the past week, as the New York Knicks have won their first two games in their first NBA finals appearance since 1999, New Yorkers have flocked to bars, parks, and streets to turn the city into a watch party extending just about anywhere where there is a TV screen in sight. For the truest diehards—or at least, those unwilling or unable to make the trip to San Antonio for the opening road games, as some wealthy fans did—the premier destination has been Plaza33, the area just outside Madison Square Garden that has served as the site of the official Knicks viewing party, and indisputably the rowdiest place to watch the games.
And then Trump announced that he wanted to get in on the fun. Joining the festivities at the invitation of his longtime friend, Knicks owner James Dolan, the president immediately threw the plans for Monday night’s home game into disarray. Madison Square Garden announced a variety of TSA-style screening measures, including a recommendation that ticketholders arrive two hours before tip-off and a “strict no-bag policy.” Not only was the Plaza33 party called off in coordination with the Secret Service, but a secure area was established around the ten-block radius surrounding the arena, cutting off all foot and car traffic in one of the most hectic stretches of midtown Manhattan. “No one will be allowed inside the secure area unless you have a ticket to the game, a train ticket, are going to a business inside the area, have credentials, or have some other authorized reason to be there,” a New York Police Department statement read.
The disruption cast a shadow over the joyous metropolitan mood, with critics ranging from Stephen A. Smith to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries condemning Trump for the logistical burdens he brought upon long-suffering Knicks fans. (Even Ann Coulter took a shot, writing on X, “Of all the selfish, narcissistic things Trump has done, attending MSG to see the Knicks play in person Monday night is the absolute worst.”) Outside the arena, reactions were mixed after Trump waved through his tinted window to the crowds stuck behind the barricades across the street.
“Real fans waited 30 plus years for it,” Anthony Martinez from New Jersey said. “Hopefully he doesn’t show up for game four, and we get to enjoy it outside.”
Yishai Berkowitz, another New Jerseyan, seemed conflicted about it all. “I don’t know how it’s supposed to work,” he said. “The president should be able to come…to have a watch.”
The outcry, he suggested, was partly manufactured. “People today are much more internet focused,” Berkowitz said, “because if they were really fans, they would be here anyway.”
Monique Cuebas from the Bronx was just happy to be a part of the moment—to catch a glimpse of Trump, even from a distance. “I didn’t see him,” she said, “but I saw his shape,” noting that anything involving billionaires and millionaires provides her a sense of “hype.” Cuebas suggested Trump’s real motivation for attending the game was that “he likes the attention,” but that didn’t bother her.
Trump certainly drew attention—much more so than Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who sat in the nosebleeds with state lawmakers and didn’t figure into the broadcast, unlike former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who looked a bit shaken up after Knicks point guard Jose Alvarado crashed into his courtside seat. When the national anthem played just before tip-off, the jumbotron inside the arena flashed to the president, standing in his suite alongside MAGA luminaries including Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and Dan Scavino. (Trump’s granddaughter, Kai, and Dolan were also among the crew.) A source in the arena described it to me as about 65 percent full of boos at this moment, and the reaction rang out across the five boroughs of Trump’s hometown: at a Greenpoint, Brooklyn beer hall, the president’s face was met with deafening boos and middle fingers. According to an attendee seated near Trump, the murmur among the crowd was that he had planned to leave after halftime but stayed because the game was too good. (The Spurs eked out a tight win, guaranteeing that none of the “Knicks in four” chants will come to fruition.)
Trump sat for the next portion of the game ensconced in a bulletproof glass box resembling the Popemobile. It was a fleeting entanglement with his hometown—NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Monday that the Plaza33 party will resume for game four on Wednesday—but one that provoked no shortage of emotion. Another onlooker outside the arena regaled me with his tale of seeing Trump’s “white big arm” inside his car, which he took as further proof of the president’s New York bona fides.
“He’s from Jamaica, Queens,” the Knicks fan said. “We all know his body of work.”
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