PREZ IN A STATE OF DELUSION
N.Yers laugh at boasts that he’s got any kind of shot at win here
Businessman. Commander-in-chief. Comedian.
President Trump’s claims that he could win New York in next month’s election drew scornful laughs from residents of his native city on Tuesday.
“He’s not going to win here,” Darrell Spearman, 20, told the Daily News while relaxing in McCarren Park in Brooklyn. “He’s messed up too much by the way he’s handled things this year.”
A man having lunch in Bryant Park in Manhattan burst out laughing at Trump’s Tuesday comments that New York is up for grabs.
“People have opinions,” said Owen Siegel, 53, who lives on the Upper West Side. “And his is wrong.”
Earlier in the day, the president went on a rant about the upcoming debate against Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
He also repeated assertions that he can win New York — even though Hillary Clinton trounced him here in 2016 and polls show Biden crushing Trump by up to 36 percentage points.
“Upstate and on Long Island — I’m going to win in a landslide,” Trump boasted on Fox News. “It’s horrible, what they’ve done in New York. It’s rotten to the core.”
A poll released Oct. 2 by Siena College found Biden winning by 60 points in New York City, 20 points upstate and 14 points in downstate ‘burbs.
The race is closer nationwide, with Biden ahead of Trump by a roughly 51-43 margin, according to an average of recent polls by Real Clear Politics.
Trump’s latest comments continued a recurring theme for the president, who told a fact-challenged New York City tabloid in August that his campaign had been “putting New York in play.”
Told of Trump’s assertions, a man cleaning an entrance to Bryant Park had a one-word response: “Nope!”
“Man, if he wins, we’re all going down,” Andrew Germain, 33, continued while laughing. “We can’t handle four more years of hell with him in office.”
He scoffed at Trump’s New York creds, saying, “He’s no real New Yorker.”
“He doesn’t act like a New Yorker. New Yorkers are all about working until you make it for everybody,” Germain added. “Trump just cares about people with money.”
The president, who grew up in the upscale Queens neighborhood of Jamaica Estates, declared himself a Florida resident last year. He whined of being “treated very badly” by local leaders, though he made a point to say he “cherished” the city and its people.
But polls show the feeling isn’t mutual, with the recent Siena survey finding 61% of
New Yorkers rated his job performance as “poor.”
A woman who gave her name as P. Williams provided a taste of New Yorkers’ loathing of the president, saying she wouldn’t vote for him because he’s “from the pit of hell.”
“He needs to leave New York out of his mouth,” said Williams, 47, who added that she’s worked as a nurse during the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump has come under heavy criticism for his erratic handling of the pandemic, which had claimed 23,944 lives in the city as of Monday, according to the Health Department.
“Yeah, he’s from here, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Williams said. “I have so many choice words I’d like to use right now, but I won’t do that. I hate even looking at that man.”
Trump’s latest remarks prompted loud laughter from 24-year-old Jonah Flint, then reflective silence as he seemed to try to find the right words.
“I don’t think anyone here has time for his s—t anymore,” he said. “The instinct is to say something vile to him. But it doesn’t matter what we say. The only thing he wants is money.”
City Comptroller Scott Stringer echoed everyday New Yorkers’ sentiments.
“Trump spinning winning New York gives new meaning to the term ‘ Hail Mary pass,’ ” said Stringer, who’s running for mayor. “Lights out.”
Still, die-hard Republicans say Trump has a point.
“Millions of New Yorkers from across the state — including in many areas of deep-blue New York City — will vote resoundingly for the president and send a strong message that they support our police and want to restore public safety,” state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy said. “President Trump was a help to our candidates down ballot in 2016, and we fully expect that to be the case in 2020,” he added.