“Oh Donald Trump and I are not friends!” says Willa, 69, with a sharp laugh. We’re standing on a sunny high street in Jamaica Estates, deep inside the New York borough of Queens, where the former and perhaps future president was born.
“He’s still going to be president even though most people don’t like him,” she adds, with more than a bitter hint in her voice. It isn’t an uncommon view in the area. A few minutes earlier, Tanya, 60, had also reflected on the one-time resident’s chances of getting to the White House again later this year. “I don’t think anything can stop him,” was her conclusion.
It is a remarkable state of affairs. Donald Trump has, after all, had quite the week. On Monday morning, it looked like he had failed to secure the $463.9m bond required for the civil fraud judgement made against him in February.
Back then, Judge Arthur Engoron found that he had lied about his wealth for years, in order to make the deals that built his real estate empire. This should have paved the way for Letitia James, New York’s Attorney General, to begin seizing his assets, including several of his buildings.
In the end, an eleventh hour ruling from the court of appeals lowered the sum to $175m, and gave him and his co-defendants another ten days to come up with the sum. It may still prove to be an ordeal, as Trump’s attorneys recently claimed that they could not find a bank able to approve bonds of over $100m. Still, he has got some breathing space – again.
“I greatly respect the decision of the appellate division and I’ll post the $175m in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the ten days,” Trump told the cameras at lunchtime while standing outside a courtroom. Why was he standing outside a courtroom? Oh right, yes, that other thing.
Because a civil fraud case isn’t enough of a distraction from the presidential campaign, Trump is also facing four separate criminal cases. One of them concerns allegations that he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claim to have had affairs with him. Originally set to begin in March, the trial will, as decided on Monday morning, begin on April 15.
Surely one of those ought to shift the balance, right? According to the people milling around Trump Tower at the time, it seems unlikely. “It will make him more popular with his base,” said Susan, 55. Why would that be? “Because they’re idiots and they follow anything he does,” she added plainly.
On the other side of the street, a group of men were holding anti-Trump placards, which were being buffeted by the harsh wind. “We detest Trump. We think he’s an incredibly dangerous man. We’ve been protesting and doing what we can for eight years now,” explained Paul, 62. “I mean it’s one outrage after another, and for some reason it doesn’t affect his popularity in this country.”
We spoke before the bond was lowered; back when the possibility of the attorney general taking over his properties seemed more immediate. What did he believe should happen to Trump Tower, if it were to get seized?
“An anti-Trump museum would be good,” he said. “Each floor featuring a violation, starting with letting his grandfather into our country.”
Susan, on the other hand thought that “they should hand the property to charity; a shelter for rape victims.”
Over in Jamaica Estates, 20-year-old Cielo thinks about it for a while. “Maybe a library, because those are really bleak in New York,” she says. “They’re barely getting any funding, and it would be an area where having a large public library could be useful to the people.”
And does she think that Trump could be stopped? Well, that’s more complicated. “It all really depends. Even if he does get incarcerated, there’s still going to be some way out, no matter what. There’s a small chance he’s going to face his time,” she says.
This was, on the whole, the conclusion most people came to. It was tough to find supporters of Donald Trump near his childhood and current homes, and even harder to find anyone believing that anything could prevent him from being the Republican nominee, and perhaps the president. It’s going to be a long, long six months in the US
