‘He just want his face everywhere’
On the anecdotal campaign trail in New York, finds opinion aplenty, and most of it is bad news for Trump
NEW York does not like Donald Trump. Or, to be more specific, the few dozen New Yorkers I spoke to this week do not like Donald Trump. Hell, they don’t even like saying his name.
Emiliano, an Uber driver born in Colombia, says: “Hillary [Clinton] will win. That other one, he just do it for the power, he just want his face everywhere, it is all for him, him, him.”
Anthony, who moved to New York City from Ghana 14 years ago, drives a yellow cab. He says of Trump: “This guy, what qualifies him to be president? He has money, that’s all. People cheer when he says he wants to suck out all the immigrants. But what are Americans? Does he think there were these people that jumped out of the ground? I hear him on the radio and it makes me sad. I have to turn it off.”
Despite his vague pronouncement this week that “We’re gonna work with the African-American community and solve the problem of the inner city”, it is understandable that immigrants and African-Americans are wary of Trump. TV broadcasts show him being cheered by white blue-collar workers, but not all unionists are Trumpists.
On Wall Street, a bunch of men in hard hats and hi-vis vests are gathion ered around a giant inflatable rat strapped to the back of a pick-up truck, protesting about the labour practices of their employer. Asked about their political preferences, most turn away, but one says: “That man say wages are too high. He say there should be no unions. Why would any worker vote for him?”
No one has anything good to say about “that other one”. Maybe it’s because this is New York, the radical cousin of the rest of the US. Maybe it’s because a foreigner asking political questions is immediately assumed to be a member of the media, and any member of the media is immediately assumed to be, if not pro-Clinton, at least antiTrump.
Emily, a legal adviser from Los Angeles, says: “In LA or in New York, I’m surprised every time I meet someone who is behind Trump. I mean, how? Why?”
Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, has said coverage of Trump’s “indiscretions” has been hugely disproportionate to coverage of “the avalanche of scandal” coming out of Clinton’s camp. He has openly accused the media of trying to rig the election, of “doing Hillary’s work for her”.
He has a point. The November issue of US Vogue contains the fash- FACE-OFF: A giant pumpkin carved by Hugh McMahon with the faces of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in New York SWEETER OPTION: Hillary Clinton offers cake to reporters to mark her 69th birthday this week magazine’s first-ever endorsement of a political candidate. The leader page does not mention why “that other one” should not be president; it simply lists Clinton’s experience and qualifications and why the magazine has decided to speak out for her.
Other publications are less serious. On the cover of this week’s issue of Time Out magazine is a ghoulish caricature of Trump’s face, with a dotted line around it indicating that it should be cut out as a Halloween mask.
Vlad, a Ukrainian who waits tables at a diner in the financial district, is less partisan. “I cannot vote,” he says. “But if I could I would not know who to choose. They are the same. They both do bad thing.”
Tony, a political analyst from Houston, says this is a view he has heard too, and it angers him. “There is no equivalency between the deeds of Donald and the so-called WikiLeaks of Hillary’s e-mails,” he says. “My brother told me they are both as bad as each other and I told him: ‘That’s like saying Brussels sprouts are as bad as bubonic plague.’ Hillary has been in so many races for so many public positions — if there was real dirt to be dug up on her, don’t you think it would have been dug up by now?”
In entertainment terms, this election has been a powerful magnet for irony. On Thursday Trump lashed out at NBC, which recently released the 2005 “locker room talk” tape, saying its actions were illegal. “That was a private dressing room,” he ranted.
Tony believes Clinton will win. “I like to give humanity the benefit of the doubt,” he says.
“The press is helping by only quoting the polls that make it sound like a close race. There are Republicans who do not support Trump who will vote for her to keep him out, even if they don’t much like her and particularly do not like voting for a Democrat.
“If they thought she had it in the bag, they might not bother . . . So the media’s interest in making the race newsworthy is also in the public interest because it makes people vote.”
Tito sells “Vote Hillary” badges next to Brooklyn Bridge. He has lifesize cutouts of Clinton and “that other one” flanking a US flag. Tourists queue to have their photos taken with the candidates. There has never been such an interesting election, says Tito, whose parents came from Puerto Rico but who was born in New Jersey. “Hillary will definitely win,” he says, sweeping an arm at the skyline. “The whole of New York is behind her.”
Eric, who runs a jazz club in the Bronx, says: “Quite frankly, I’ll be glad when it’s over. When they debate, I get my popcorn and I watch the show, because it’s funny. But enough already.”
In LA or in New York, I’m surprised every time I meet someone who IS behind Trump. I mean, how? Why? My brother told me they are as bad as each other. That’s like saying Brussels sprouts are as bad as bubonic plague
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