This is a tale about two sides of the same street.
A little after 10am September 11th, way down on the tip of lower Manhattan, a Chevrolet Suburban was pulling into the firehouse at 42 South St, which belongs to Engine Company 4, Ladder 15.
The men of 4-15 look after Wall Street; the massive emblem hanging inside their firehouse depicts the statue of the Charging Bull, wreathed in flame. On this day, the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, they wore their best class A suits, all crisp navy and patent leather, and crowded around the Chevy. A door opened and out stepped former president Donald Trump. The firefighters lined up to shake his hand, to give him a pat on the back.
Trump made the rounds. “Hey, fellas, I didn’t see you over there,” he said, turning to shake the hand of one particularly awestruck firefighter. “Mr President,” said the firefighter, “great job last night.”
Trump thanked him, paused and then added, “We had three-on-one.”
He was talking about his televised debate, the night before, with vice president Kamala Harris. To Trump, his opponents also seemed to include the two moderators from ABC News, whom he said treated him unfairly.
“There was three-on-one,” he repeated.
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What was that tone in his voice? Not quite ashamed, or embarrassed, exactly, or even sullen – but resigned, perhaps. Resigned to the fact that he had been bested by Harris. She had called him a “disgrace” to his face, several times, with more than 60 million people watching. She had hit him where it hurt, taunting him about the people who leave his rallies early. Perhaps what was most devastating was the fact that it all seemed to work – he had taken her bait, allowed himself to get knocked off course, and now even his friends on Fox News seemed to think he got played for a sucker.
But inside the firehouse, he was still a champion.
“They were going at you,” the firefighter chuckled. “You did a great job, though.” He stuck out his hand for another shake. Trump took it again, and thanked him again.
At one point, two children looked up and one said, “President Trump, make America great again!” The former president stuck his hand up and the kid leapt to high-five it. Two of Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric Trump, were with him, and so was his running mate, JD Vance. A captain stood between Trump and Vance for a photo.
Trump received this warm reception, despite his own complicated history on September 11th. On the day of the attack in 2001, after the twin towers fell, he boasted about his own tower downtown. “Now it’s the tallest,” he said then. (It was not the tallest.) Also, during his first run for president, he spread a false story about thousands of Muslims cheering the fall of the towers from New Jersey.
On Monday, he brought with him to the firehouse Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist who posted on social media last year that the attack on the World Trade Centre was an “inside job.” Loomer stood outside, beside two wreaths that were fluttering in the breeze coming off the East River. “God bless our fallen members,” read a banner on one wreath. “Remembering all the victims on 9/11,” read the other. She played around on her phone while pacing between Trump’s two campaign managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.
And yet, the firefighters were happy to see Trump. He’s a New York guy, and even though he lives in a golden triplex in the sky, he talked like them. Some of the firefighters’ family members said afterward that they were impressed how he took time to meet each person, that he seemed to be in no great hurry and was more interested in talking about golf and life than he was about politics.
“Very respectful,” said one woman. “Caring, understanding, asked about sisters and brothers,” said another.
Outside the firehouse, across the street, Trump’s visit was getting an entirely different reception from Manhattanites who had stopped to gawk.
“Trump embarrassed himself yesterday, and continues to embarrass himself,” said Natalie Warkins (28), who works in music publishing who was wandering by with her morning cup of Starbucks in hand.
Kajsa Hutton, a 52-year-old who works in real estate and lives nearby, strolled past with a goldendoodle named Bruno. “Of course Kamala won,” she said. “He’s not qualified to be president, it’s obvious.”
Traffic rumbled overhead on Franklin D Roosevelt Drive, and two military aircraft hovered cinematically in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. They had just lifted off from a helipad across from the firehouse, perhaps to fetch Harris or President Joe Biden, who were also in the neighbourhood.
Delighted-looking tourists gathered, their heads on a swivel as they looked from the helicopters to the scrum of reporters with their cameras to the motorcade to the Secret Service detail to the firemen, who were now out on the street, posing for a picture with the once and perhaps future American president.
“It’s like in the movies!” said Filippo Felice, a 26-year-old visitor from Tuscany. What did he make of Trump?
“I don’t really like the guy,” he said. “We in Italy [had] Silvio Berlusconi. I don’t know if you know. He is like the most powerful evolution of Silvio Berlusconi.”
Felice had caught last night’s showdown between Trump and Harris.
“I saw the debate yesterday,” he said, “and I cannot tell one single reason why one single person would vote for Donald Trump – what he is saying about abortion, and immigrants, and eating dogs?”
But then he shrugged. “I don’t know real America, to be honest,” he acknowledged. “New York feels really different from Wisconsin.”
Trump’s motorcade pulled away. The firefighters watched him go, and then went back inside their firehouse. The crowd outside moved on.
– This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
