Trump’s Democrat hometown breathes after US vote

US President Donald Trump speaks during a post-election press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on November 7, 2018. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)

by Thomas URBAIN
Agence France Presse

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump’s largely Democrat-voting hometown woke up Wednesday breathing a sigh of relief, pleased there were now checks on the president’s power but under few illusions that the political future of America would be any less divided.

Having spent two years in denial that the anti-immigration Manhattan tycoon had won top office, many New Yorkers were in a better mood after Tuesday’s midterm elections handed Democrats control of the House of Representatives, if not the Senate.

“I’m happy,” said Kathryn Baron, in her 50s, at Grand Central, one of New York’s busiest transport hubs. “I feel relieved. Now there’s going to be some checks and balances here,” she told AFP.

“It made up a little bit for the feeling everyone felt two years ago,” Baron recalled. “It was horrible.”

Women, in particular, welcomed the emergence of a new political class and a record number of women elected to Congress and more minorities, such as rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is of working-class Puerto Rican heritage.

“It’s really exciting,” says 25-year-old consultant Jordan Chin. “That’s really empowering.”

For Maria Jobin-Leeds, a political activist from Boston, minorities and women were successful precisely because they felt under assault by the Trump presidency and his administration.

“You can only take that for a certain amount before you have to do something about it,” she told AFP. “So yesterday was the culmination of a lot of work of a lot of people.”

Whether they lean left or right, New Yorkers in the overwhelmingly private sector US financial capital were only too aware that a divided Congress brings an elevated risk of political gridlock in the next two years.

“I don’t think it’s going to make a lot of difference,” said Bill Johnson, who belongs to neither party. “I think there was gridlock before and it’s going to continue.”

Focus shifts to 2020

“That’s exactly what I expect,” agreed Brian Jones, a Democrat.

“The only place where you will get progress is if there’s any other judicial appointments because they’re made in the Senate and the Republicans have an advantage,” he said.

Chin, however, saw an opening for Democrats to commission legislative investigations into Trump, such as over conflicts of interest.

“The opportunity is there,” she said. “I think it’s exciting nonetheless to see where it’s going to go.”

Jones said it was an open question whether Democrats wanted to “waste their time” in that area when their attempts to turn the screws on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh ended with his confirmation regardless.

“I think the Kavanaugh hearings backfired on them,” said Jones. “Hopefully they’ve learned some lessons from that.”

With the last votes from the midterms still trickling in, the news cycle and gossip is already switching to 2020 and the next presidential race.

“What’s very unusual is everybody’s going to start talking about (it),” says Mark Anton. “I’ve never seen that happen so quickly.”

And the perceived wisdom is that, even if Trump lost the House on Tuesday, he is still well placed for 2020, in the absence of any clear Democrat frontrunner to oppose him.

“You have to admit he has the economy in his back,” says Jones. “If you look at the economic numbers in the United States, it’s hard to criticize him.

© Agence France-Presse