Trump Towers Over New York

How are New York’s famously talkative and diverse residents getting used to the presence of President Trump?

- Sophie Kalkreuth

When Donald Trump was sworn in as America’s 45th president, the city of New York held its breath, as though standing on a precipice squinting to see forward. Which Trump would become President Trump? The one who bulldozed his way through the ugly presidential race with impetuous tweets and inflammatory rhetoric? Or perhaps another, more tempered and conciliatory version would emerge?

The failure of polls and political analysts to predict Trump’s victory showed that in the current political climate, educated guesses are fruitless. But in New York, postulating is a favoured pastime (as any Woody Allen movie readily reveals) and political extrapolations are ever-present: on the subway, in restaurants, or just waiting in line at Bloomingdale’s.

Current predictions range from cautiously optimistic: Trump is good for business and his most incendiary ideas will surely be tempered by the GOP establishment and America’s democratic system of checks and balances; to outright dystopian: Trump will ruin America by defunding progressive social and environmental programmes and his unhinged Twitter attacks will bring us closer to nuclear war.

Even if one attempts to let the political earthquake of Trump’s election recede into the background, the reminders of his unlikely victory are everywhere. This is the new president’s hometown, after all, and his name glitters on the sides of his buildings from Soho to the Upper West Side. In recent months, his motorcade has made dramatic turns through the city streets and his private jet caused backlogs at LaGuardia Airport.