By Carol Tannenhauser
WSR took to the streets Thursday and asked a random sampling of Upper West Siders “How are you reacting to, coping with, feeling about the results of the election?” The neighborhood voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, but we found Trump supporters too, and people who were ambivalent about both candidates.
Elevator man, who came to America when he was 17 from Cuba:
“I don’t like him, but the people vote for him, America vote for him, so he’s the president. It was a free election. Over here it’s beautiful, free elections. In my country you don’t see nothing like that.”
Older Woman, entering building:
“I’m not coping. I’m stunned.”
Middle-aged woman riding a scooter because of a broken heel, on her way to see the doctor:
“I’m hanging by a thread. I feel betrayed. I’m terrified about the complete loss of control of Congress and what’s going to happen to the Supreme Court. This is a disaster. When Bush was re-elected, there was so much anger, but this is different. It’s scary.”
Young man and older woman interrupt their conversation to answer the question:
Woman:
“You know what? This country can get anyone and do anything and be fine. That’s all I want to say. We’re capable of tolerating everything and we will. It’s a beautiful day, we’re strong, and in four years you change it. I’m fine.”
Man:
“I’m devastated by the loss. I raised money and campaigned for Hillary. But our republic will survive. We are a strong, resolute people. We have survived much worse than this.”
Delivery man:
“I’m afraid for Spanish people, Mexicans, Middle Eastern people.”
Construction worker:
“I don’t feel good for the Trump.”
Three men standing in a doorway, a super, a tenant, and the building manager. When the manager heard the question he snuck away:
Tenant, laughing:
“He voted for the Trump!”
Super:
“How we could elect someone who’s a liar, a thief, a cheater, a philanderer, an abuser? It goes against everything I grew up with that made any sort of moral sense. But we live on a coast. The Midwest thinks he’s wonderful. Meanwhile, my stocks are up! It’s not going to affect me badly. My social security is intact and, when I die, I’ll probably pay fewer estate taxes. But that’s not why I live here. There should be some kind of equalizing.”
Tenant:
“I tell you truth. I don’t like Trump. I don’t like Hillary.”
Newsstand man:
“I did vote for her, but she didn’t win, so what can I do? I’m Muslim, but I’m not afraid, because whatever he’s saying, it’s impossible to do. You have to get the Congress and everybody on board. One person cannot do everything he wants.”
Florist:
“We have no choice now. Whether we like it or we don’t, that’s our president.”
Truck driver:
“I wanted Bernie to win. I voted for Hillary, more on ideology than candidate. I didn’t get the person I wanted, but he’s my president and I feel we’ve got to get behind him and support him. I don’t see the point of protesting and rioting. I put my hope and faith that President Trump will pull it out.”
Neighborhood drug store, customer, clerk, owner, all men:
Customer:
“I’m not happy, but, you know, people get the results they deserve. I guess this is what we deserve.”
Clerk:
“You want me to be honest? I like it. I voted for Obama twice and still see no path for my community, the African-American community. My wife voted for Hillary. I voted for Trump. I came to this country when I was 18 and people give me a chance. I want to give Trump a chance.”
Owner:
“I’m thrilled! This is how I decided. Forget all the rhetoric, forget the groping; that’s meaningless when it comes to running the country. I’m at a table and in front of me is Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Somalia, Syria. Who do I want next to me? I chose Trump, that’s the bottom line. Why? Because they don’t respect women in those countries at all, and that’s a problem. We are the leader of the world. We have to have respect. And, by the way, how about the fact that Trump’s daughter is the first and closest Jewish person in the White House? He would never not back Israel. He would never let his daughter down.”
Psychotherapist, woman:
“I’m coping really badly. I am a psychotherapist. People are reacting very, very strongly. I’ve had people come into the office and just sit down and cry for 20 minutes. I haven’t seen anything like this since September 11th. Helping other people cope is helpful to me because it gives me something to focus on other than my own feelings. My advice is to focus on the tasks we need to do and consider ways we can be socially active. We should keep our eyes wide open, not withdraw from the social arena, and not give up to feeling helpless or hopeless, but continue to stay in there.”
Doorman:
“The government will tame him down. They’ll teach him the rules. The American government is bigger than Donald Trump and they’ll calm him down. I’m glad he’s there. It’s a change. So, God bless him. I wish him the best.”
Guy sweeping the sidewalk:
“The only thing that worries me is that the whole government is Republican.”
Eleventh grade girls, eating slices in a local pizza place:
Girl #1:
“Oh, God, not again! In school, that’s the only topic that’s going around.”
Girl # 2:
“It’s really depressing and disappointing how someone with no political experience is the president.”
Girl # 3:
“Someone so racist and ignorant and sexist and homophobic! He’s against everything that makes our country and New York City so diverse. Technically, we don’t have any support anymore.”
Nanny from Grenada, pushing a toddler in a stroller:
“I’m a little bit disappointed, because I feel Donald Trump is not the fittest one to run a country like the United States of America. The United States of America is an example to the world and he brings the wrong message. He preaches hate and brings fear into the hearts of people. He talks about deporting them, breaking up families. I’m an American citizen, but I know people who are really scared.”
Book Culture, between 81st and 82nd on Columbus Avenue. Young woman and man clerks, and 40ish woman browsing:
Woman clerk:
“We have a writing desk and a list of local and national representatives. We’re encouraging people to write letters and we’ll pay the postage and send them out every couple of days. We think it’s good to encourage people to feel that they can still say something after the results.”
The writing desk at Book Culture.
Man clerk:
“I feel defeated – emotionally and mentally defeated. And frightened.”
Woman Clerk:
“I think there’s something comforting about coming to work here and being on the Upper West Side: a sense of us all being unhappy together.”
Woman browsing:
“What am I doing to make myself feel better? Eating comfort food, like porridge and chocolate. And my son and I watched a totally distracting movie last night. No news. I want to maintain the denial as long as possible. Reaching out to a lot of friends through email and texts. Trying to come up with some positive thoughts about what to do going forward, like working to turn the Congress Democratic in two years. And I’m trying to create smaller communities, because of feeling estranged from the rest of the country. I almost don’t want to leave the Upper West Side.”
Finally, Starbucks.
Psychoanalyst in her 80s:
“I have to listen to everyone else not coping!”
Man on his laptop:
“I think it’s really important not to tell people how to feel. My daughter is 15 years old and she was in school yesterday and all her friends were in tears, all of them. They wanted a woman president. It’s appropriate to cry at any age. It’s disgusting that he won. He’s a disturbing human being. It’s not about me being a Democrat or not liking the Republican platform. I can get with Republicans if they’re normal and have good hearts. This guy’s a bum. He’s a bum.”
You would think psychotherapists would be shopping for new Mercedes S-63s at this point. Emotional histrionics = good for business!
As for me, I’m very upset. I was hoping for thermonuclear war with Russia, and now that Hillary lost, we won’t get it. Such a lost opportunity.
Your term, “emotional histrionics” is redundant.
Scott — EXACTLY. Hillary called Putin Hilter. How do you talk to a leader whom you called Hitler? For some reason I do not understand, our government has been antagonizing Russia for the last few years. I was genuinely frightened that the foreign policy disaster called Hillary Clinton would be elected because she would have no problem going to war with Russia. Well, I DO NOT WANT TO DIE IN A NUCLEAR WAR. So I voted for Trump. Trump said he wants to talk and be friends with Russia. Real simple. Bring on the protests, does not bother me at all…
Concerning Russia, I made essentially the same point back in March.
(Concerning the second area of foreign policy I had mentioned in the above-linked comment of mine: the undue influence of the Zionist lobby, I’m afraid that since then, all (or nearly all) indications have been that Trump is no better here than his opponent would have been.)
So funny. That’s exactly why I did not vote for Trump – I don’t want a man who can’t control his temper in charge of nuclear weapons.
It’s baffling how someone who chooses to post under the name “UWSHebrew” chooses to align with a campaign and candidate that purposely courted and surrounded itself with anti-Semites and white supremacists
UWSHebrew …. It’s Goulash for you …. Oops, it’s Gulag for you! Friends with Russia, not really!
It’s really silly, all this drama. I am old enough to remember living through democratic and republican presidents switching back and forth without the hysteria. You need a left wing and a right wing to fly straight. If Trump gets out of hand, the country will adjust at the midterm elections. Have faith in the American people and our system.
I appreciated this recap–and especially the creative, therapeutic writing desk at Book Culture.
We all need to grown up and put on our “big boy pants”. This country has survived a Civil War, 2 World Wars, Nixon’s constitutional crisis, 8 years of Bush and 8 years of Obama. The country will survive 4 or 8 years of Trump as well. It was not just Trumps victory, all the way down to the most local position there was a wave. States that have not gone republican since the 70’s & 80″s went republican. A large majority of the countries population where saying that they were not happen with the direction the country was going on, epically economically. Think about it, Dem strongholds like Penn, Mich, Wisc went republican. This was not just a southern white vote for Trump.
As John McCain said about Obama election night about Obama “he is my President, he is America’s President and we all need to help him and the country succeed” Both Obama & Hillary said very similar things, this go round. People can be upset but there is NO reason to act out in acts against property and/or people.
Robert you are indeed correct. Now please convince the KKK and other white supremacist groups to act within the norms of civility, decency and morality set forth by a multicultural and multiracial society currently living in this country.
True, but so far it has not been the Klan, et al. rioting and destroying property.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/11/anti-trump_protests_held_for_f.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/01/saudi-student-assaulted-wisconsin-dies-his-injuries/93101338/
This is the 3rd incident like this that I’ve read about this week.
robert – I do not have the facts, but based on the press reports, I would indeed call it a hate crime. I cannot excuse the increase in violent crime. I do, however, think that it would be narrow minded and short sighted to evaluate all of this without taking the long run into account.
Over and over, people who view things primarily through race point to the correlation between race and crime. Over and over, people who do not note that the correlation is even stronger between poverty and crime. It does not take a genius to see the correlation between discrimination – on a historic scale – and poverty. As recently as WWII, black soldiers returning from war, where they fought on behalf of their country, were denied the housing and education benefits extended to white soldiers. The foundation of most peoples’ wealth in this country for some time has been home ownership (recognizing it turned the other way badly in the financial crisis). That denial left an entire community (defined largely by race) behind. Job discrimination and financial discrimination continued long beyond that time. Educational quality varies so extraordinarily in this country (again, correlated to race), denying many a fair start. In the face of all that, it is difficult to overcome poverty, and again, poverty correlates with crime.
I know all the stories about “my grandparents arrived with nothing and THEY did it, why can’t these people”. My grandparents did that too. But they were not tripped at every turn.
I don’t know what the right answer is to everything, but I do know that when I look at this, I look over a longer timeframe and I weep.
I checked media and the “police blotter” for that area. They don’t know who and or why he was fighting with the predator. We need to be carefully before we tar and feather a community. So far there is no evidence of a hate crime, it may be a simple robbery gone bad. That said, if the evidence points to that book should be through at those that did it. But keep in mind that there have been several “attacks” recently that turned out to be faked by the people reporting them. They confessed to faking it themselves, after being caught on video doing the act they then claimed was a hate care. These people should also be charged as they bring into question the validate of a real hate crime.
Don’t you agree that the same standard should be applied to the car driver in Chicago that was dragged from his car and badly beaten by several men that stole his car? While that was being done, they and the onlookers filming it shouted about his being white and a Trump voter. Would not his beating because of the color of his skin and his political views be a hate crime?
And to directly answer your comment Glen, why would they be rioting when they’ve essentially been given a ‘get-out-jail-free’ card. Those guys are tickled pink right now! So much so that they are throwing our new president a parade.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n-c-kkk-chapter-plans-trump-victory-parade/
Rioting and destroying property is unquestionably reprehensible, but your argument is a non sequitur to my point. Trump and Pence are a direct threat to people’s rights to equality and their pursuit of happiness. Bigotry and hate have been normalized and is in fact sponsored by our President elect. Fuel to the fire for hate groups to feel aggrandized and have their already swollen sense of entitlement and self righteousness to act out their distorted beliefs with violence against people who do not look like them.
Welcome to Muricah the land of the intolerant!
Bottom line: In the long run planet Earth is in deep trouble. Seriously. The Paris climate accords will be undone by Trump. If you’re young, put your hopes in Elon Musk and hope you get to Mars some day.
As a black person, I feel my life is now in jeopardy, given the violence his supporters have exhibited and his pro “law & order” stance. Every right we’ve fought for, including Roe V. Wade will be stripped away and I probably will lose my health insurance, because subsidies will be probably be taken away. The Supreme Court will swing far far right and we’ll be doing nothing to prevent global warming. This country is now a laughing stock globally. And we have a unstable idiot who’s screwed up almost everything he’s touched, business-wise, as President, who’s also a sexual predator. So, how you do think I feel? Gutted and scared.
The record breaking markets after his election prove you completely wrong. The world has not lost faith and it seems investors across the globe agree, we are a safer investment than ever. Drop your illusions fears. Nothing is going to take away yours or any citizens rights.
You obviously haven’t been paying attention to the bond market where the staggering losses since the election are indication that we are not viewed as being a safer investment.
Bond losses are due to expectations that growth, and therefore inflation, will pickup under Trump as a result of pro-growth policies (infra spend, lower taxes, less regulation). So bonds, like stocks, are suggesting we are about to breakout of the 0-2% growth of the past several years.
With respect to Trump’s presidency: remember the profound words of the great Elaine Benes, “Oh, lighten up. It’ll just feel like an eternity.”
Nice article, thank you. I love seeing everyone’s viewpoints, especially people from all different backgrounds. I’m devastated myself.
like everything else it’s a day at a time
And to think, Day 1, Trump has already lied about NOT talking to the Russians.
Fantastic article. Thank you for getting so many points of view. I feel better after reading this.
“Psychotherapist, woman” wins, in my opinion. “Girls #3” comes in second.
I am proud to say I am part of the 10% of Manhattanites who was with TRUMP / PENCE form the start. It’s alarming to live in a city & state that exists in a thought-bubble / group think environment. Dinner parties are a lesson in muteness for me – for should i say anything I get pummeled excessively. So although my interests don’t get tended to in NY State – I am delighted that there is a President who represents many of my views. Donald Trump is the change the entire country needs – not just the Boston/NY/ DC axis.
Preach it brother! I have had to remain silent at dinner parties, family dinners, holidays etc for the past16 years. First Bush and then Obama. Every time politics is brought up I have to go to another room. Every holiday I have to decide if I really want to go. Thanksgiving is going to be a nightmare.
I only wish that NYC liberals were tolerant of views that they don’t agree with.
Jeff
Respectfully…would doubt that a Republican administration would be interested in supporting and funding the bicycling infrastructure you enjoy.
Likely that transportation policy for this administration will be about cars – big cars – and highways
Trump did very well among the uneducated, including those who’ve not mastered rudimentary grammar.
The same thing can be said of many of the >90% of a certain group that voted for Obama.
I wore my t-shirt that has the “Join, or Die” Benjamin Franklin 1754 cartoon snake of the American Colonies the last few days when I go outside. Lots of stares, and a few questions. I love it.
As an experiment, I wore a Trump for President pin and slowly walked the length of the voting line which extended around the block outside PS 75. I got some perplexed stares and heard a few underhanded remarks. But the best part was getting the ever-so-slight nods and secret winks from more than a few people. I felt like I was Ed Norton in Fight Club.
To CCAT: It might be helpful to the sad and scared if you could say why you think Trump is going to be good for you and for the country. Seriously. Thanks
Among the myriad disturbing things that separates Trump from his predecessors is that he has absolutely NO self control. He acts on impulse. He can’t even control himself on Twitter. How’s he going to control himself with his finger on the nuclear button.
He is also in WAY over his head. he only knows three things: hotels, casinos, and golf courses. No history, no diplomacy. The last book he read was probably his own.
What did Obama know?
Obama was a constitutional scholar who taught at the University of Chicago Law School. He was an Illinois state senator and a United States senator.
What a bunch of wusses!! What the hell has happened to America??! “I’m scared……I was in tears……I’m depressed……What to do?……What to DO!!!” The UWS is living up to its reputation, alright! Oh-so-“liberal” and “tolerant,” but if anything or anyone comes along that does not embrace their way of thinking, WATCH OUT!! Donald Trump is the President-elect, soon to be President, and now all the Upper West Side leftist liberals will simply have to bite the bullet, and accept the fact that the country has had its flirtation with “progressive” policies, and they have been firmly rejected by the electorate! Just as WE had to accept the reality of an Obama Presidency, these clowns will now have to live with a Trump Presidency! Live with it! And remember, it was the failed Obama policies that gave birth to that Presidency!
WELL SAID DAVID!
Amen!
Like the early ending of a beautiful fall day, the election results will undoubtedly spur my winter of discontent — And I’m an eternal optimist. But this cheetos-looking fascist, usurper to the presidency, has both houses of congress for at least the next two years; thus the republic surviving in tact is a given we can no longer take.The glass is not even one-eighth filled, let alone being half.
Donald Trump is hardly a “usurper” to the Presidency! He was duly elected to the Presidency, according to the laws of the Nation! So before you spout such blather, might I suggest that you mind your words, and stick to those that make sense and have a ring of truth to them! Your disappointment in Donald Trump is palpable, I know, but you and the other liberal loonies will just have to contain yourselves and accept the prospect of a Trump Presidency, destined to be the greatest period of leadership seen in many years!
OK, notwithstanding FBI Director James Comey’s eleventh hour intervention, I concede your point. But ‘cheetos-looking’ and ‘fascist’ are irrefutable.
In his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell wrote,
“The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable’.”
Historian and political philosopher Paul Gottfried deals extensively with the misuse and abuse of the term “fascism” in his book, Fascism: The Career of a Concept. The book is reviewed here. A brief treatment of the subject by the book’s author called, The “F” Word”, can be read at the linked URL.
Your concession on that point is duly noted, but I must still take issue with your assertion describing Trump as either “fascist” or “cheetos looking.” Trump’s point of view can hardly be described as ” fascist,” when half of the electorate chooses to enthusiastically embrace it! Even Hitler would not have garnered such support in s free election in Germany! As to what you describe as ” cheetos looking,” a ruddy complexion with a bit of tan make-up is very flattering to Trump,to my way of looking at things.
Amen, Bruce. Irrefutable indeed.
I’m all for allowing people to mourn, but the depressed hysteria was a little over the top even for this neighborhood. Some folks I ran into, even friends of mine, were crying in the street the next morning, asking existential questions like, “What are we going to do now?” I think some people forgot that we live in a democracy, and that not everybody in this country is an Upper West Sider.
But my biggest problem is with some of the parents who irresponsibly told their children that the end of the world would come if Trump were elected, without having the common sense to think that this might be a bad idea in the event that he actually won. They are now stuck with not only lamenting about own disappointment, but having to assuage the fears that they’ve created within their children before they can even give the man a chance.
Amen!
This sums up my attitude:
https://youtu.be/l_TKXPPjhRk
Thanks for this. I doodled around on that part of Youtube for a bit and discovered that a local cinema in Copenhagen, Denmark, played Blazing Saddles every Saturday night for ten years. I take comfort in this.
Well done, Rag. This was like talking to more neighbors. I am emailing it to outoftown Upper West Siders. Thanks.
As a gay immigrant I feel betrayed, and realizing that majority in this country doesn’t give a shit about us (immigrants, LGBT+, Muslims, Jews, black, middle eastern, etc)
Thank you for not voting, thank you for voting Mein Trumpf, thank you for protest votes.
Ruined Country;
Man oh man, are you full of it.
Thank you for coming to America.
You are welcome here.
I assume you came legally. Good.
Now – just because the country decided not to vote for Hillary, a failed candidate, full of lies and corruption, does not mean that the country is all of a sudden anti gay, anti Jews, anti Muslims.
Come on man – grow up!
It’s called democracy!
Maybe where you came from there is no democracy, but here it speaks volumes, and we have to accept it when it speaks.
The country is not ruined.
Your ability to think clearly is.
Do no include me (Jew), in your Cultural Marxist diatribe against the people of this country. Today there is no other country outside Israel that is so tolerant, welcoming, and friendly to Jews as is the USA. All you have to do is look at the skyrocketing levels of violent (sometimes deadly), anti-semitism that has rocked Europe in the last 5 years, which is not due to it’s indigenous white population, but to their immigrant Muslim population. G-d Bless Trump, G-d Bless America.
Wow- I’m surprised. I supported Trump not because I like him so much but I do think his positions on the issues is what’s best for the country. Clinton was just politics as usual on steroids.
I am impressed with the measured and thoughtful responses from the people you interviewed. It gives me hope that we can discuss issues without being hateful towards each other.
Now let’s Make America Great together and support our new President.
How do you discuss issues without hatred, when Trump’s whole campaign – void of ideas – was based on hate mongering, fear and divisiveness?
Did you and CCAT meet at a Grammar-deniers for Trump meeting?
PJrod,
Please do us all a favor and send Mr. Trump a memo about not being hateful. You know, just in case he missed your comment here.
The country will survive Trump, same as it would have survived had Hillary won.
She was the wrong candidate. Pure and simple.
She was/is the past, the 1990’s.
And, her telling us that she is sorry having a private server made us feel better?
No way. She lied and tried to wiggle her way out of it,, to no avail.
Now, as far as not feeling safe in the age of Trump:
Look at all the death threats and calls for assassination, coming from the “gentle” left.
This is very dangerous, very.
Reminds me of the ultra right in Israel in the mid 1990’s.
They called for the assassination of prime minister Rabin, and within a year, he was gone.
We have to suck up to reality.
Trump is our president, like it or not.
Just as many people were unhappy when Bush #2 was elected, twice, and the same goes for Obama, yet there were no nightly protesters blocking traffic and calling to murder an elected president.
Calm down everybody. The end is not yet here, unless you make it so.
Well Hillary Clinton/Democrat did win the popular vote.
However the Electoral College structure is what confers the outcome.
You may not be aware but there have been constant threats to commit violence against President Obama – though true not at street protests.
Although worth remembering that at a number of Trump rallies during the campaign there were numerous examples of threats of violence against Hillary Clinton
Lastly there are in fact some clear differences between the Democratic and Republican parties on a number of significant issues, among them climate change/environment, abortion etc.
Some voters made decisions based on issues, some voters made decisions based on fake internet scams, some on experience, some voters decided the “email thing” was the only thing – there are clearly a whole host of other reasons and factors for voter decisions
Now someone should take a walk through one of the small towns in the rust belt. No doubt the view there will be quite different. There is another world out there beyond the elitist west side of NYC.
There are plenty of poor and suffering people in NYC so it does not seem accurate to confer the broad stroke “elitist” here.
Donald Trump is clearly of the “elite” – wealthy person from wealthy family, graduate of an Ivy League school, has a sister who is a judge and his brother Robert Trump a wealthy financier was a mainstay of NYC’s “elite” society for years.
It is true that the “elite” like the CEOs of Uber, Goldman Sachs, Wal Mart should spend some time in rural areas, small towns, rust belt cities – and see the impact of their income inequality.
And struggling people from these places should come to SF, NYC and see the affluence of the folks in big real estate, finance, tech…if the struggling people really knew, they’d likely have become Socialists
When all non-racist, non-misogynist, non-homophobic, non-bigoted, everyday ordinary people get so sick of you calling them racists, misogynists, homophobes and bigots that they go out and vote against your candidate, do you:
A. Reevaluate your personal conduct and strategy of convincing people to share your politics?
Or
B. Call them racists, misogynists, homophobes and bigots and yell at them even more.
According to the last 24 hours, you choose B. AND THATS EXACTLY WHY YOUR CANDIDATE LOST!!!!!
Good point. Perhaps some of these extremely entitled folks who are whining about the election should try to look at things from someone else’s perspective. Instead of engaging in theatrics and accusing half the country of racism, because they didn’t vote for your candidate.
It’s called “fly-over-country” for a very good reason!
I spend a lot of time in “fly-over” country for business. Perhaps some snobby New Yorkers would agree with your assessment, but next time you’re on a flight to LA, you should ask your pilot to land in Peoria so you can take some time to meet the very lovely, hard-working people and families who live there.
And that’s why we have the Electoral College system or they would be ignored.
I’m from the ‘rust belt, and I voted for Hillary. My friends and I had no choice but to leave after GM crashed (20+ years ago), and now we’re spread out on the east and west coasts and have a vastly different point of view as those people who still live there. Do you honestly believe that their lives are going to change and they’re all going to have jobs, better health care, and a better education with Trump as president?
Local reflections. A glimpse of Election Day on the Upper West Side, a hyper-liberal urban enclave. I overhead the Hispanic doormen and porters in our building say they voted for Trump. Most of these guys have 2 jobs to take care of their families and send their kids to college. Later in the day, as a movie was being filmed on our street, I was surprised to see many of the grips and other crew members wearing red hats that said “Make America Great Again”.
Then after the election, a 10-year old boy who lives on our floor said to Dr. Husband, “I hit myself on the head with my lunch box because Donald Trump is President”.
What a wonderful article…..I agree with most of these New Yorkers.
I am astonished at the theatrics of these sore losers. Republicans were not happy when Obama was elected, but they behaved with some degree of dignity and went on with their lives without crying on the streets and fear mongering.
You can’t always get what you want. Sometimes your candidate loses and the other candidate wins. Be thankful for what you have and put things in perspective. You are not winning people to your cause by behaving this way, that’s for sure.
I don’t agree with many of the hysterical reactions, though I am quite distressed myself, but the selective amnesia about the behavior of the right after Obama’s election, and the role that the behavior of the right had in preventing Obama from actually achieving what he set out to do, is astonishing.
Republicans behaved with “dignity” when Obama won? Are you freaking kidding me? The Rethuglicans in Congress met for dinner asap and said they would obstruct every goddamned thing Obama tried to do.
THE BIRTHER MOVEMENT … sponsored by Trump the president we now have to accept … did you not follow that one?
Unbelievable how head in the sand anyone has to be to claim that Republicans accepted nicely Obama. Give me a break!!!!!
Your constant “Rethuglicans” wording shows how hateful and immature you are. I am a Trump supporter, and I have never, nor I have I seen anyone else say the word “Deamoncat” on here. Because it’s stupid. Grow up Sunny.
Just because you monotonously repeat yourself on this forum doesn’t mean that you’re right about everything. You come off as self righteous but you’re continuously putting down anyone who doesn’t agree with you. Don’t Tread On Me, seriously?
Republicans were not weeping in public, marching around, or rioting. They also were not comparing the loss to 9/11, as some Democrats such as Robert De Niro are doing.
It is fine for the opposition party to obstruct a president’s agenda if they honestly disagree with it.
They vowed to obstruct him BEFORE HE HAD EVEN DONE ANYTHING YET. How do you know they didn’t cry, weep while on the streets? Maybe in areas where they lived (which is not really the UWS) they did? I’m sure if one goes back to that time it will not be hard to find right leaning celebrities who said vicious things about Obama. The zeitgeist on the right as I do recall, from fly over people I personally know and read made hateful, bigoted, and definitely “He is NOT my president” comments. So, so true, that’s why I bothered responding to your comment. Type in the words “right wing response to obama’s election in 2008” into Google.
I’m surprised at these comments. I don’t see many who describe WHY some of us are in tears, fearful, really upset at Trump being president. From what we heard from his mouth directly during the campaign, we got an angry (remember how livid he was at Hillary at the debates … as if he could have hit someone) person who tweeted petty insults and retorts like a child would … said vile, vulgar, hateful, bigoted things at rallies and called his rival a nasty woman and said he’d lock her up. This is only a fraction of what he himself said, and how he said it. This is how he campaigned. He didn’t release his taxes. He enlisted Steve Bannon/breitbart for his campaign. We’re not even talking policies yet. We’re talking temperament. We saw a vindictive, autocrat sounding man. He got the endorsement of the KKK. David Duke applauded his win.
He wants to put right-leaning justices on the Court. Which means good-bye to gay marriage and a woman’s right to choose abortion. Those two things alone are very very upsetting to think about, rolling us back decades. Not to mention deporting so many. Even if one agrees with his policies, why would people not understand why he doesn’t even seem capable of running the government in a steady, calm, rational way … much less in a crisis. God forbid when you think about his hand on the nuclear codes.
This is NOT some ordinary politician.
I responded earlier, but my comment seems to have disappeared, that it was crazy to me to read here among the comments that Republicans behaved nicely after Obama did. They did NOT. Elected Rethuglicans in D.C. met immediately after he won to vow to obstruct every single thing he would do. And we saw that they did. Let’s not forget the Birtherism smears … spear headed by Trump. I myself heard from fly-over state family members “watermelon on the White House lawn” jokes.
I do agree that protests that are not peaceful and that turn into riots are not the way to go. And I subscribe to the stiff upper lip model that Hillary Clinton gives us: you get up, dust yourself off, and work like hell to fight injustice and support policies and politicians who line up with what you believe … rather than crying on the streets. But you know, I do understand crying and pulling out your hair in these early days. Trump is like no other politician and for those of us who thought the bar was lowered by the Rethugs when they put in GWB, it is frightening that the bar again is so low. This is scary. He’s an autocrat. And he’s got congress on his side. He isn’t allowing press to travel with him. He shuts down the press when he doesn’t like what they say. This is NOT democracy as we know it.
Sunny,
You have too much free time on hand!
Trump won because he was not Hillary.
Hillary lost because she was Hillary.
Give the Trumper a chance, and maybe,
just maybe, he’ll do good by the country.
Now count to ten before you reply.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
“Let’s not forget the Birtherism smears … spear headed by Trump. I myself heard from fly-over state family members “watermelon on the White House lawn” jokes.”
ITA with everything you’ve said here, and let’s also not forget the Tea Party ‘Obama is Hitler,’ rhetoric. How quickly this has all been forgotten.
Just because your relatives are racist, does not mean the country is. Obama was elected twice, and could not of been elected twice, if a majority of whites had not voted for him. Hillary Clinton was a horrible candidate. If you had a decent candidate, you would of won. The DNC is corrupt (Donna Brazile, Podesta, Wasserman-Schultz), and if you want to win in 4 or 8 years, get rid of the top corrupt people at the DNC, and get a good candidate. Stop whining, face FACTS, and get to work.
A VOTE FOR DREW WOULD HAVE BEEN A VOTE FOR YOU.
I voted for the one candidate in the race who understands the Constitution, and the values of liberty and limited government it’s supposed to protect – Gary Johnson.
As for Trump, I wish him the best. With our country’s $20 trillion debt, due in large part to his 2 most recent predecessors, he’s going to need it. Our Republic can’t flourish, or even survive, unless the size and scope of government are limited. Maybe someone will point him in the direction of Austrian economics, and he can learn that printing money (quantitative easing, stimulus, whatever you want to call it) is not wealth creation and that bubbles created by the government are necessarily going to burst. Then things really get ugly. Venezuela, anyone?
At least Hillary is not going to the White House, and that indeed is something to celebrate. She and her husband spent the last few decades as ‘public servants’ (spare me) and running a charity, and managed to amass a fortune in the hundreds of millions of dollars. If you don’t see anything wrong with this picture, you’re hopeless.
For those to whom the results of this election came as a shock, you might want to try getting out of your UWS group think bubble. A week before the election, there were Hillary For Prison signs even in Westchester, Hillary’s own back yard, for heaven’s sake. And prison is where she belongs – if any of us did the kinds of things she’s done, that’s where we’d be.
Amen!
I wish Weld was at the top and Jonson second.
I just could not get behind Johnson and his lack of basic knowledge.
“birther” movement genesis… please refer to Blumenthal, Sid.
2008 Democratic primary campaign.