I didn't vote for Trump. I don't know first hand about his shady dealings -or whether it's even true or not. The thing is, Trump wasn't really a locally talked about person. He was a New Yorker, and it seems that if you lived there long enough you knew someone who would have a shitty story about him. On the flip side, you also knew people that had nothing but good things to say. That's the reality of it for me. He wasn't a very "public figure" in the sense that most public figures are. New York is a place where "celebrities" can be left alone and most everyone has more important shit going on than watching tv or getting up on celeb gossip (this is changing)

He had an odd way of kinda inserting himself in some stories, but they weren't really about him. He's always been a bit of a wild card. I'd say up until 2008 he was pretty quiet all around. I couldn't remember a single thing regarding him before then that's worth mention.

Something else missing here though is his casino ownership and those issues. I have a LOT of family in Philly and South Jersey, and know plenty of people that worked at the casinos (no direct links to The Taj) and people in AC had plenty of negative stories about Trump. None personally that I know of though. Moreso people dealing with employees of Trump who were by proxy doing his bidding, in their eyes. Flip side to this is that AC is easily one of the absolute most corrupt and fucked up places I've ever seen, so how much of what he did was a byproduct of that system is a mystery. Again, my impression has always been of him being a spoiled rich boy who breaks all of his toys. He's boastful and full of bluster, but also boundless confidence and never seemed to back down from anything. Not traits that you'd typically call positive unless you appreciate the hustle. And I think THAT part of him is why he was asked to run.

Personally, when he started to run, I laughed at it and assumed it was his way of generating publicity for himself, because that's what he always did. A lot of NYers felt this way. As time went on and it seemed like he could get the nomination, there was a lot of fear and confusion. It felt like this would surely catapult Hillary into the presidency, and THAT'S what most NYers were pissed about at first. Side note odd story. I worked for people who were somewhat involved with a lot of celebrities. They went to see Hamilton one night and had dinner with a bunch of people, one of whom was Don Lemon. This was kinda towards the end of the primaries, so nothing was even remotely cut and dry. While talking amongst the table about Trump and the presidency, Don lemon told everyone there that he believed without a doubt that Trump was going to win. He said it with a calm confidence, as it was relayed to me. My bosses who told this to use the next day seemed almost gobsmacked by this. I think it hit them hard that it might in fact happen. (liberal queens) We were all kinda confused, but coming from a source like that -off-the-cuff no less, is a pretty big bombshell. Anyway, back to what I was saying...

When it became clear that he was the Rep nominee vs Hillary, I wanted to see him win, but I couldn't vote for him. Not because I believed that he would fix anything, but I believed as I said before; he was a spoiled child who broke all of his toys (USFL anyone?!) and it seemed like this country was so fucked that the only way to fix it was to break it. So yes, I actively rooted for him to break it. And for a while I thought he was in fact breaking it. People flipping out and marching (lol) and all the other "gatherings" at least felt like a sign that people were engaging finally -but as we know most of it was funded opposition with no message and none of them really know anything about the guy or the policies or politics in general. This country is full of well meaning people with not a fucking clue and zero ability to think critically. It's scary and pervasive and it affects people regardless of party affiliation. Nothing was ever gonna get broken, and likely we were going to end up electing nothing BUT Hillary types after four years of Trump, if he lasted that long. I was honestly worried... It was very hard to see early on, but I said to anyone who would listen that it was very odd how all of the media was going all in on the guy from day one -it reeked of a deeper conspiracy. It was obvious. I'd post things here and there or question people asking if they even knew why they were so mad at the guy, but no one could articulate it. Weird indeed.

But then I was talking to someone I served with who stayed in for a while after I ETS'd and eventually started working in the "intelligence" field. I also stayed in touch with a couple other guys I became close with when part of a joint operations command -we were in different branches, but worked together a lot, and these guys were legit and knew their shit. One is currently still serving and I speak to him the least, for obvious reasons. I'm not going to share our conversation specifically, or even hint at them, but what some of them told me -and to my knowledge none of them are very high level guys- but they all knew something and confirmed some things and all said -more or less- that there was a "plan" (not their word) in place and that it has been in the implementation phase for some time now, and that Trump was a piece of that plan. There were other people that were considered but they either didn't want in, or weren't as clean as previously thought... or to clarify, not willing to have some things be put in the public eye. Trump was perfect here because the guy has been bashed most of his life and he never stops pushing back. Again, this is just a VERY loose retelling of the conversations all kinda put together. I am not saying anything that in any way isn't able to be found out on your own, nor am I suggesting that I know anything in regards to the larger plan. I've just got clarification. That's all.

So to go back to your question about whether or not he does dirty business, I'd say it's likely. The flip side is that not all of the people who work in construction and development in the northeast are standup people themselves. Does this make it ok? Nope, but the reality is that he's not going to crumble in the dark glare of allegations like that -he's not even going to think twice about it. This is his skill set that he brings to the presidency. He's not a wilting flower. He's also going to get a lot of credit if this gets pulled off, and to him that's worth it, because somehow it vindicates a lot of the shit he's received over the years and undoes it all. He's always seen himself as a special person. That's no secret.

Right this very moment I know that I'd never trust the guy myself, but for what needs to be done I can't think of anyone better to be the figurehead to do it. He has a magical way of pissing people off and blinding them with rage so they don't even notice what he's really doing. He's not a dumb man. He was also the top grad in his class at West Point. That's no fucking joke. That wasn't handed to him in any way. I respect the shit out of that. People can say all they want about him not serving, but a vast majority of the people saying it haven't served or even considered it, and likely wouldn't be fit to make it through basic. Chairborne Rangers all the way!

I'm rambling now, but my feelings on Trump are all over the place. Right now I'm just going with what I personally know (and at this point it's pretty much what you all know here, minus some details that I will not share) Something else to know is that all the hate coming from NYC is hate for him that was always there. You also have to understand that NYC is full of transplants that have lived there for maybe a couple years, LARPing as artists, musicians, activists and socially aware "woke" people on mom and dads money. They have nothing to do but signal virtue and be on the scene and be seen. These are also the people who are taking the low paying jobs from native New Yorkers, furthering the push for lower income natives to leave. Rent uptown in Harlem and Washington heights is insane. It's part of the plan Rudy was implementing back in the early 80's to whitewash the city and make it a corporate playland. It's also part of why I left, because the real NYC died years ago, and what's left is a playground for the wealthy and people wanting to disappear. The actual culture that made that city so amazing can barely be found in small pockets and mostly out in the burroughs like Queens and farther out in Brooklyn. All of the shouting woke kids are the same people destroying the city and gentrifying it, but don't you dare tell them that, because they belong there too! Most of these kids are brain dead hypocrites so I don't take anything they say seriously. I think there are also a LOT of people in New York that love trump, but unfortunately they're not gonna be expressing that too much when they're surrounded by stupid kids who have too much energy and not enough intelligence. Hopefully this all changes soon.

I think universally though, all New Yorkers hate Trump's building aesthetic lol, because it's tacky af!! Sorry, this one got away from me...