Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

  • In Trump Era, Workers Will Demand New York City & State Step Up to Defend Them

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    photo: Make The Road New York


    The symbolism of Donald Trump’s nomination of fast-food CEO Andy Puzder for U.S. Secretary of Labor could not be clearer: at a time when fast food workers are leading the fight for fair pay and dignified working conditions in this country, President-elect Trump has decided to declare war on the Fight for $15 movement. And here in New York, workers like me are ready to fight back.

    Puzder has fought

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  • The Supreme Court Case De Blasio Is Relying On To Defy Trump

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    De Blasio emerges from Trump Tower (photo: Ben Max)


    Since Donald Trump’s election as the next President, Mayor Bill de Blasio has had to face the reality of a threat he outlined as dire during the campaign. In doing so, de Blasio has met with Trump, spoken of being open-minded about the president-elect, and declared actions his city administration is ready to take if Trump attempts to follow through on some of his most extreme campaign promises.

    The most clear threat from Trump to New York City was his pledge to cut off federal funding to so-called

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  • New York's Charles Schumer and the Future of the Nation

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    Sen. Schumer (photo via @SenSchumer)


    New York's Charles Schumer has suddenly become the most important Democratic leader in the country through his selection as Minority Leader in the United States Senate. Schumer’s role over the next few years will be critical in shaping the nation's future.

    Leading 46 Democrats, Schumer looks back on a net loss of several Senate seats since 2009 and forward to 2018, when 10 Senate Democrats will be up for re-election in states won by Donald Trump. Schumer is said to get along well with Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,

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  • Facing Reality, City Leaders Reassess 'Trump Effect'

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    Mark-Viverito at Trump Tower (photo: Sofie Hecht/Gotham Gazette)


    Local elected officials continue to take stock of what a Trump presidency might mean for New York City, and with budget season around the corner, only one word can describe their feelings: uncertainty.

    Mayor Bill de Blasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito are all waiting to see what President-elect Donald Trump will actually do when he takes office in January. Trump, a Republican, made many campaign promises that alarmed city officials, who are almost all

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  • 7 Things De Blasio Asked New Yorkers To Do in the Face of Trump’s Election

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    Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    “We have a special obligation in New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers from The Cooper Union on Monday, giving a formal speech to reassure and rally the city after the election of Donald Trump as the next President of the United States.

    De Blasio indicated that he had decided to give the speech because of all the fear that Trump’s campaign and election had created. More than two years ago, in April 2014, de Blasio spoke from the same Cooper Union stage, delivering remarks

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  • Successful Presidential Transitions Rely on Attitudes, Organization and Law

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    President-elect Trump & President Obama (photo: Trump on Facebook)


    President-elect Donald Trump visited The White House Thursday to discuss transition planning with President Barack Obama. While the election was just decided and it was Trump’s first public move in shifting from the campaign toward governing, the transition process has been underway for months -- both in the

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  • Could Trump & Sanders Populism Fuel Constitutional Convention Approval?

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    Senator Bernie Sanders (photo: @BernieSanders)


    With the 2016 presidential election over, can the populist fervor surrounding the candidacies of Senator Bernie Sanders and President-elect Donald Trump be harnessed into a new kind of revolution on a state level here in New York?

    A year from now, next Election Day, New Yorkers will have the chance to vote on a referendum to call a Constitutional Convention, an opportunity to rewrite state laws that comes around once every 20 years. Proponents of the convention — at this point mostly academics

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  • Donald Trump, New York Corruption & A Loss of Faith in Institutions

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    The 2016 Al Smith Dinner


    Public trust in Washington began diminishing under President Lyndon Johnson over the course of the 1964 presidential election and the escalation of war in Vietnam. Watergate ushered in a new era of distrust in government in the United States as the country’s top elected office was compromised. By 1974, public trust in government dipped below 40 percent for the first time since such records had been kept. 

    As with

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  • Donald Trump Elected President in Big Night for GOP

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    President-Elect Donald Trump


    On a huge Election Day for Republicans, Donald Trump won the presidential election, the GOP kept control of both houses of Congress, and, here in New York, Republicans have increased their margin in the state Senate, the party’s last stronghold of statewide power.

    With a stunning show of support across the country, Trump and his vice presidential running mate Mike Pence won more states than expected and Trump will become the 45th President of the United States. Reports came in around 2:40 a.m. that Hillary

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  • 5 Things to Watch on Election Day in New York

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    (photo: Mayor's Office on Flickr)


    Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States. When we know which of the two New Yorkers will be number 45 depends on how the vote unfolds. Both candidates will be in New York City on election night: Clinton holding her event at the Javits Center, Trump holding his at the New York Hilton.

    The potential historic significance of the Presidential vote should not be overlooked: Hillary Clinton could become the first woman elected President of the

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  • On Election Day, Federal Policy & Funding Stakes High for New York City

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    Clinton & de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be in New York City on election night, and one of them will be the next President of the United States. Through the results of the presidential election, which comes down to one native New Yorker and one New York transplant, and with the congressional elections on the ballot, there’s a great deal at stake for New York City.

    According to the fiscal year 2017 ...

  • On the Issues: Presidential Candidate Comparison

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    Click here to see the full list

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  • Trump Could Tip Key Races for State Senate Control

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    photo: @NewYorkGOP


    New York State Senate Democrats have picked up seats in every presidential year in the past two decades. They’ve been chomping at the bit for Hillary Clinton, a former New York Senator, to head the presidential ticket, telling anyone who would listen that she would bolster turnout for them and win them swing districts, thereby securing them control of the chamber, perhaps for good.

    What the Senate minority didn’t count on was the Republican presidential candidate being toxic to black and Hispanic voters and alienating a

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  • Could ‘Third Party’ Candidates Swing the Presidential Election?

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    Green Party candidate Jill Stein (photo via Facebook)


    With the Republican and Democratic parties having nominated presidential candidates with record-high unfavorability ratings, this election cycle is turning out to be a choice between a rock and a hard place for many voters. Some, though, are looking elsewhere and still-early polling shows that this November could yield near-record voting for so-called “third party” candidates.

    Those who oppose Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton say she’s an untrustworthy,

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  • Can Trump Win New York? Inside the Numbers

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    Donald Trump & Mike Pence (photo via @GOP)


    Donald Trump’s nomination for President at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland was the culmination of a primary campaign that overturned precedent and defied expectations of the political class. Now, as he shifts his attention the general election, Trump has set his sights on another lofty goal, one which has been out of reach for Republicans for over two decades: winning New York, his home state.

    Recent polls, voter enrollment data, and primary turnout

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  • New Yorkers, Including the Presidential Nominees, Head to the National Party Conventions

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    The RNC approaches (image via @GOPconvention)


    The next two weeks will see the formal nominations of the two major party candidates in the contest to succeed Barack Obama as President of The United States. First, this week, Republicans are expected to nominate Donald J. Trump, who on Saturday morning introduced Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. On Saturday, Trump promised “we’re going to have an incredible convention.” The theme of the convention is "Make America Great Again," which has been Trump's campaign

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  • Takeaways from New York Presidential Primary Voting

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    Donald Trump (photo: @realDonaldTrump)


    In the 2016 New York presidential primary, Hillary Clinton won the greatest portion of New York City’s Democratic vote share by a better margin than pundits expected, substantially increasing her votes in predominantly black communities from 2008 and also receiving solid support from a number of traditionally white, liberal areas.

    For Bernie Sanders, reports said he was trying to emulate the campaign that liberal upstart Zephyr Teachout ran in the 2014 gubernatorial primary, and expand the support she got in many of

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  • Delegate Matters: How New York’s Presidential Primaries Actually Work

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    A Bernie Sanders rally


    For the first time in generations, both the Republican and Democratic parties are still engaged in extremely competitive presidential primary races as New Yorkers go to the polls. While everyone is eager to see which candidate on each side of the aisle earns the most votes on Tuesday, the statewide popular vote is not the only factor, or even necessarily the most important factor, in amassing the key prize: loyal delegates.

    Each party uses its own arcane system to apportion and select its bound delegates for the coming national

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  • New Yorkers Run for President: History and Insights for 2016

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    Franklin D. Roosevelt (whitehouse.gov)


    The 2016 presidential contest may very well pit two New Yorkers, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, against each other. In the 29 presidential elections from 1900 to 2012, New Yorkers headed major tickets nine times. Two (Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey) ran twice; one (Franklin D. Roosevelt), 4 times. New Yorkers faced each other twice (1904 and 1944), presaging the seemingly likely 2016 matchup.

    New York's prominence in national politics is no surprise. Arguably the nation's most historically important state for many

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  • As Teddy Roosevelt Did, 2016 Candidates Drag the Supreme Court Into Presidential Politics

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    The Supreme Court (Carol Highsmith, via Library of Congress


    The Supreme Court is being drawn against its will into the chaotic 2016 presidential campaign.

    Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz dislike the court's decisions affirming Obamacare and gay marriage. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernard Sanders object to its Citizens United campaign finance decision. Senate Republicans are threatening to block President Obama's nomination to replace recently deceased justice Antonin Scalia,

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  • 'New York Values' in Historical Perspective

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    Ted Cruz (photo: @SenTedCruz)


    Stereotyping New York in political debate
    In a Republican presidential debate in January, Senator Ted Cruz tried to score points, saying of Donald Trump, "Donald comes from New York and he represents New York values." Cruz went on to say that "everyone in the country knows exactly what New York values are and I've got to say they're not Iowa values or New Hampshire values." New Yorkers are "socially liberal and pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage and focus on money and the media," he said.

    Cruz repeated the message, with variations,

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  • After Iowa: Debates & Voting Dates Until New York

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    Gov. Cuomo votes (photo via The Governor's Office on flickr)


    "There's a lot of states ahead," Mayor Bill de Blasio said on MSNBC late Monday night from Iowa, where he spent the weekend campaigning for Hillary Clinton in her bid to become the Democratic nominee and next President of the United States.

    And de Blasio is right - there are 49 more states and the District of Columbia to vote before the primary season is over. New York will be the 37th state to hold a vote when April 19 comes around.

    As de Blasio spoke, it was still

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