Dragon on Centre Street by Jonah Bromwich review – drama of Trump the felon
Trump Convicted on All Counts to Become America's First Felon President: so blared the New York Times headline on 31 May 2024.
'Donald J Trump was convicted on Thursday of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign, capping an extraordinary trial that tested the resilience of the American justice system and transformed the former commander in chief into a felon.'
Jonah Bromwich shared the byline. From pre-indictment stakeout to arraignment to jury verdict to sentencing, he covered the legal tribulations of the once and future president, a drama for the ages in a courthouse in lower Manhattan. Dragon on Centre Street is his eyewitness account.
A former style section writer, Bromwich is mindful of human folly. His first book captures the personalities that filled the corridors of the court and the streets around it, light-hearted one moment, deadly serious the next.
'The first clash between Trump and the criminal court system was shaping up to be the entertainment event of the season,' Bromwich writes, with a touch of glee.
The run-up to the arraignment assumed the air of a rock concert or a sports championship. In the words of one Times stringer, it was 'hotter than Springsteen'.
'Professional line sitters, from a company called Same Ole Line Dude, showed up wearing merch advertising the name of their company and toting colorful tents.'
Pages later, Bromwich introduces the reader to Max Azzarello, a name now largely forgotten.
'On 7 April 2024, 12 days before he killed himself outside a Manhattan courthouse, [he] ambled downstairs to his neighbors' apartment in St Augustine, Florida, holding a fistful of glow sticks.' Max and a friend, Mandy, wanted to gain the attention of a family of bats who circled overhead, much as the two had played with a pair of stray cats and a toy alligator. 'Cat fishing', they called it.
But after the death of his mother in 2022, Max's life had turned dark. Less than two weeks later, in a park across from the court in New York, the 37-year-old set himself on fire.
Bromwich's descriptions are insightful – at times, withering.
'His color, created for the camera, looks strange at close range,' he writes of Trump at his arraignment, in April 2023. 'So does his hair, coiffed in the front but threadbare in the back, such that someone sitting behind him for weeks at a time sees a different patch of his scalp each day.'
But Bromwich also gives Trump his due. 'In person, it was easier to see the fundamentals – how tall he was, how imposing – and to sense the way his charisma exerted pressure on those around him.'
The competing versions of Trump occupied the same space at the same time.
Elsewhere, Bromwich conveys the judgment of Olivia Nuzzi, then a writer for New York magazine, in time tabloid fodder in her own right. Watching the trial on the court's closed-circuit television system, he describes her as 'blown away' by the visuals. 'Stripped of his power, Trump was reduced to a small garish human trapped in the municipal monochrome of the courtroom,' summarizing what she saw.
Bromwich recounts the trial testimony of Stormy Daniels, born Stephanie Clifford, the adult film star who Trump paid to keep quiet about the affair she claimed and he denied. Before Daniels took the stand, Sally Franklin, a vice-president at Penguin Random House, read 'telling' excerpts of Trump's books.
'The defense looked stressed,' Bromwich writes. 'There was no doubt that Stormy had enraged Trump, and it was an open question whether he could keep himself in check, even with the threat of jail hanging over his head.'
Daniels testified that she spanked Trump. He mouthed 'bullshit'. Isabelle Brourman, a courtroom artist, sketched Trump getting his butt swatted. The show continued. Trump had said she ought to be a contestant on The Apprentice, Daniels said. After all, Daniels reminded him of Ivanka, his daughter: smart, beautiful and underestimated.
'The dizzying feeling in the courtroom was increasing … in the gallery, Eric Trump was slowly turning from pale to pink,' Bromwich observes.
Donald Trump cursed and shook his head. Justice Juan Merchan, the trial judge, warned Todd Blanche, Trump's counsel, his client could be held in contempt.
'I'll talk to him,' Blanche said. In all, the court fined Trump $9,000 for contempt and another $1,000 for violating a gag order.
Ivanka and Melania, Trump's third wife, never appeared in court. Ditto Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband, once Donald Trump's chief White House adviser. On the other hand, Trump was supported by the likes of Mike 'Moses' Johnson, the House speaker; JD Vance, then a senator from Ohio, eventually Trump's vice-president; and a phalanx of future cabinet members.
'Those guests who populated the left side of the gallery in [the courtroom] were quickly drafted into Trump's administration,' Bromwich writes.
Susie Wiles is chief of staff. Doug Burgum is secretary of the interior. Kash Patel leads the FBI.
Trump's lawyers fared well too. Blanche is deputy attorney general. Emil Bove is principal associate deputy attorney general. On Wednesday, Trump nominated him to the US court of appeals for the third circuit, which covers Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Maryanne Trump, the president's late sister, once sat on that bench. Facing an ethics investigation, she retired in February 2019.
In the courthouse on Centre Street, in May 2024, the Dragon was convicted. It didn't matter: in November, he won the White House again. In January 2025, as he waited to return to power, he faced sentencing.
'The fact is that I'm totally innocent,' Trump announced, via computer.
Justice Merchan handed down an unconditional discharge. Ten days later, Trump was back in the Oval Office.
Dragon on Centre Street is published in the US by Authors Equity
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