The Bronx seemed, on Thursday, May 30, far removed from Manhattan, where Donald Trump had just been found guilty in his criminal trial. As they arrived at the school auditorium where Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the famous face of the American far left, was holding her monthly town hall meeting, the 60 or so supporters who had gathered there were talking about everything but Trump.

Bobby Lee, 74, spoke of the real estate scheming at play in the public housing projects where he is a tenant. Denisa Rodriguez expressed outrage at Joe Biden's policies, far too tolerant of Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli government for her taste. Both naturally hoped that the former president's conviction would sway undecided voters to the Democratic side.

Of course, when Ocasio-Cortez took to the stage, she broached the subject: She said she was delighted that Trump had been convicted in her city, and was met with applause. Yet she also recalled the reality of the situation in America: "The law is what it is. (...) It is a shocking fact, but it is a fact nevertheless that an individual, even if you are indicted, tried, convicted by a jury of your peers on 34 different federal felony counts, you can still run for president. And this man will be the Republican nominee, and he will likely be on the ballot in November."

Beyond this introduction, however, the evening was devoted to the issues residents were concerned about, which would undoubtedly be more decisive in rallying voters on her side for the November elections. Ocasio-Cortez listed her commitments to residents of the Bronx, including a program to combat youth delinquency; the opening of a supermarket selling local, fresh and organic produce; and urban renewal of the neighborhood. She touted the opening of 2,000 federal jobs as part of an environmental civic service program and reiterated her fight against the abusive misuse of personal images, especially sexually-explicit ones, via artificial intelligence.

To much applause, she praised the new system for filing tax returns without the need for the costly services of a tax expert. She also invited the members of the small gathering before her to check if they were eligible for the student debt forgiveness program: "These are life-changing amounts." So it was all local matters, except for a reminder of her position in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza, which she has held "since day one," and her denunciation of the "genocide" and "famine" indiscriminately affecting the Palestinian population. The crowd's questions were also essentially local: the extension of a high-speed internet access subsidy that was rolled out during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is unlikely to be renewed, and nonexistent public transportation.

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