Donald Trump, No. 45
15 October 2024
New York, NY
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| Official portrait (The White House Historical Association) |
On a chilly October night, we journeyed to the place where it all began, the golden escalators of Trump Tower. On June 16, 2015, Donald Trump descended the gleaming escalators and announced that he would be running for president as a Republican. He would go on to become the most divisive president in modern presidential history.
Trump was born into a wealth on June 14, 1946. His father, Fred Trump, had amassed a fortune in real estate in New York City. Trump grew up to become the president of the real estate company which he renamed The Trump Organization in 1973. The headquarters, of course, is Trump Tower.
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| The golden escalator |
We entered what we thought was a 68-story office building and discovered that it is also a shrine to Trump. The entrance was guarded by a handful of New York City police officers. Gaining entrance was not a problem with nary a glance our way. The building was very quiet (it was 8 p.m.) and all of the shops were closed. Tom asked someone who looked like an off-duty worker if you “ever get busy?” He replied, “Today’s Tuesday. Maybe tomorrow. Happy hour.”
The accessible floors are the entrance floor atrium and the lower ground floor, a golden escalator ride down. The entrance floor features many large American flags, and plenty of photos of the president. A gift shop sells Trump books, Trump water bottles, Trump baseball hats, Trump glasses, Trump towels, and Trump bags.
The ground floor has many Trump-themed shops including Trump Grill, Trump Sweets, Trump Pizza, and Trump Café. All were closed. At Trump Sweets you can buy a “Make America Sweet Again” gingerbread cookie in the shape of Trump. At the Trump Grill you can treat yourself to an Ivanka Salad that consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, mixed olives, feta cheese, romaine lettuce, and Greek dressing for $18. (Cathy wondered why Ivanka is the only Trump child featured on the menu.)
A Trump shop on the ground floor was selling more Trump baseball hats (this time with “Fight, fight, fight” emblazoned on them), Trump key chains, Trump playing cards, etc.
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| Directory |
A Trump clothing store was selling Trump woolen hats, Trump vests, Trump bomber jackets, Trump hoodies, Trump crewnecks, Trump tank tops, Trump slippers and much more… (True story: Tom bought a Trump belt about 25 years ago and it fell apart pretty quickly.)
An Indian American man was there with his family. Tom asked him, “What do you think?” (of this place)” “Pretty good,” he replied. It seems that this was not his first visit to the building.
When we had entered the atrium, we noticed two people sitting on a bench in the building. One was a middle-aged woman in a red MAGA baseball cap with luggage piled around her. She was deep in conversation with a bearded man in a blue coat and shorts. We heard Trump’s name mentioned. They were there when we left an hour later. Cathy thought they might be waiting for one of the Trump family to leave the building. The building is closed to the public at 10 p.m. so they couldn’t be camping out there.
One of the many
Trump themed shops
Trump’s presidency was by marked by the world-wide COVID pandemic, large tax cuts, and crack downs on illegal immigration. Trump’s border wall was partially constructed, although not paid for by Mexico as promised during his campaign.
His presidency was also characterized by tacit approval of the activities of white supremacists, cozying up to autocratic leaders such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Victor Orban, and two impeachments (but no convictions).
It ended with a loss to Joe Biden in 2020, an attack by his followers on the U.S. Capital on January 4, 2021, and the second of his two impeachments. Trump and his supporters claimed the election was stolen. (No credible evidence ever showed this.) Trump never conceded the 2020 election nor did he attend the inauguration of his successor—a presidential tradition. He sculked out of the White House to his home at Mar-a-Logo in his new state of residence, Florida, along with top secret documents that he illegally possessed.
He spent the next four years fighting lawsuits and was eventually convicted of 34 counts of paying hush money to a porn star to aid his 2016 election bid. He was never sentenced.
As of this writing, he was reelected on November 5, 2024 and will be sworn in on January 20, 2025.
DIRECTIONS
Trump Tower is located at 725 5th Avenue in New York City between 56th and 57th Streets. The closest subway stop is the 57thStreet Station.
REFERENCES
The White House Historical Association, whitehousehistory.org
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