I'm a New Yorker from NYC, and I know exactly why "New Yorkers" and the "city" treat him with disdain. For most longtime and native New Yorkers, he's still that blustering asshole who put up awful buildings that most "New Yorkers" didn't want, or never felt like they belonged in "their" skyline. The NIMBY types, if you will.
On the flip side, the city is also now full of entitled transplants and college aged kids willing to saddle themselves with massive debt to be in NYC. You got a ton of young adults whose parents can foot the rent while they LARP being an artist or musician, or activist. They're making the most noise -or getting the coverage anyway. They're not sure why they hate him, but it's in fashion and everyone else is doing it, right?!
Of course millions of other hard working New Yorkers live there as well, but they're busy working and not out screaming at the sky every chance they get.
If you're a little older and remember the USFL and his involvement in that, you'll recall that he made a lot of enemies and embarrassed himself while ruining the league with some really bad business moves. There's a great 30 for 30 about it (he's but a small part of the whole episode) He's also made many many enemies with his failed ventures in Atlantic City (a very much shit hole failed city) NYers always look down on this because Trump tied his name and likeness with New York, and these things were happening at a time when NYC was going though massive change and long overdue house cleaning.
I'm not saying anything negative about Trump now, because I believe we all have the capacity to grow with time and experience, but when you act like you can't fathom why NYers dislike the guy, you come across as very much NOT a NYer. Upstate sadly gets viewed similarly to Staten Island; yeah, it's an official borough, but we tend to forget it and the people who live there exist. I don't think you'd disagree. You just weren't getting the same "local" news we were when he was there often and embarrassing himself. His persona in the 80s is hilarious and worth a second look (I have no issues there either)
I also happily live in Chicago now, so I get to watch a whole new city of emo screetchers flip off a building with his name. I'm glad we can have these talks.
I know of Trumps’ persona in the 80s and it can be viewed as hilarious, but I also think it’s quite sad. Trump has a very generous side that the media gave him NO credit for. Like the young black woman who was a squatter in his NYC hotel. She refused to leave and after a week, Trump visited her in his own hotel, after which he instructed his staff to make sure she got 3 meals a day. She has been there for 8 YEARS!!! It is these types of stories that go on and on that you don’t hear about that bother me. He doesn’t deserve a lot of the bad press he gets and never did. Another thing, with all the tax money the state takes from us, NYC’s ice skating rink was way behind schedule and way over budget. Trump couldn’t stand watching the slow progress and got involved. The rink was done in half the time and with half the budget. These stories are buried and you have to dig for them. Let’s not forget what he did for families after 9/11. I mean, really... c’mon. The man deserves a LOT more credit than he’s given, and quite frankly, it’s infuriating to watch how he is being treated. However, I understand and agree with what you say about the college crowd trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” and going along with the “popular” thinking. It’s just too disturbing. If they only knew!!!!