Selfie brigade storms Trump Tower

NEW YORK: Outside Donald Trump’s gilded skyscraper, many in the slow-moving pavement throng come for the sole purpose of snapping selfies, some to capture a bit of history and others to offer the new president their one-fingered salute.

Trump Tower, always a popular spot for visitors, has become even more of a spectacle since election day, with the selfie stick-toting gaggle of gawkers mixing with, and sometimes posing with, heavily armed police.

“OK, you’ve got your picture, now move along,” one officer repeated as he stood guard along a Fifth Avenue that has come to resemble its new nickname: Fort Trump.

But new metal and concrete barricades, scores of police, and pedestrian checkpoints have done little this week to stop the crowds from gathering 26 floors below where Trump has been interviewing poten- tial cabinet candidates and planning his new administration.

“It’s history in the making,” said Steve O’Neill, a 54-year-old police lieutenant from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, who made the journey in part to drop off a photo he had taken with Trump during a campaign stop.

Connie Hunt, a 54-year-old estate agent from London, Kentucky, said she came to New York to see the Kentucky Wildcats play basketball at Madison Square Garden, but made time for a trip to her chosen candidate’s home. “I love The Apprentice.”

Twenty-year-old Leigh Stolarz, of West Palm Beach, Florida, said she was outraged by Trump’s win. Her reaction was similar to the thousands of the Trump Tower selfies on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram: a disgusted look, rolling eyes and an extended middle finger. – ANA-AP

Passers-by stop for a selfie with a heavily armed New York police officer at the main Fifth Avenue entrance to Trump Tower in New York.