1st Avenue Election Report

October 31, 2024

I was having lunch at my usual diner – turkey club on whole wheat, mayo, potato salad. There was a table of ladies, average age about 75 or 80. They were discussing politics and I was listening, perhaps a bit too intently. Eventually the woman facing me asked, a bit sarcastically, if I wanted to join them. Then she asked … you don’t like Trump do you? When I said I did … the woman with her back to me lifted her arm and gave me the finger. I think if I were closer, she would have whacked me with her cane. Mind you, this is not a rough neighborhood, quite the opposite. And I got the sense they all lived there … and were discussing their various plans of when they were heading for Florida. I went a few rounds with the ladies about various policy proposals and Project 2025, but we all decided it was pointless. Somehow, they think Harris is an agent of world peace, but whatever. Opinions differ.

As I was leaving, the woman with the anxious finger apologized … I said no problem, I have a thick skin. But I did ask to show them one headline … North Korea announced they have just launched a missile system capable of hitting the US. Hard to imagine this was Trump’s fault. The response was fascinating to me. Finger lady pronounced they have been shooting missiles all the time. When I informed her that there were no tests under Trump, they just waved their hands. Facts did not seem to enter into their calculus. What will Trump do with that information, one charged. Finally, finger lady came in for the kill. We’ve known Trump all our lives. I had a house across the street from him in Queens. That’s the final irony. They hate Trump because of who he is … callous, crude, Queens. Trump is that guy who tried to rip the foul ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove. And my dear, it was you who gave me the finger.