Letter: New Yorkers contemplate verdict on one of their own
“Jubilation” is not exactly the word I would choose to describe the reaction at my gym when the Trump verdict was read out (“New York reacts with jubilation and disbelief”, Report, June 1). A woman, a couple bikes down from me, was looking at her phone and laughing and smiling, but I am not sure it was the verdict that so amused her. I felt immense satisfaction, regardless of what happens in the future, that 12 of Donald Trump’s fellow Manhattanites had finally said “no” (or in this case “yes”) to him.
I believe Trump has been a tiring, oozing sore on the New York City landscape for close to 50 years, and I know others feel the same. Yet rarely did anyone who could have said “no” to him actually say so. From gossip columnists looking for a great “get” to would-be “actresses” and “models” looking for, if not money, then some good exposure, to bankers looking for bigger bonuses and promotions, few dared to say “no”.
My biggest disappointment is with the “leaders” of New York’s so-called “legitimate” real estate community, who could have, but didn’t, warn voters about Trump’s past dealings. But perhaps that is just because this is what New York has always been about — from Gatsby to any number of characters in Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities to Trump himself, New York is about striving — whether for money, exposure, power, or the top of the heap.
Alice Bray
New York, NY, US
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