NEW YORK CITY -- It was a last hurrah for Donald Trump fans in his home state of New York. A hundred, maybe two hundred were grouped together in a small pen across and down the street from where their candidate, the Republican nominee for president, was holding his election night gathering.
They were just hoping to see him, really. They'd get to cheer him on one last time as the campaign faded into memory. "USA, USA," was arguably their favorite chant early on. Sometimes they simply shouted their candidate's name. But their phones told the same story as the rest of ours, and, after their candidate was still alive two hours past the first poll closings, the crowd got a bit louder. Everyone seemed to be smiling at each other. Lots of folks refreshed their phones, eyes wide with possibility. Did you see Florida? Have they called North Carolina yet?
Truck drivers drove by and honked their horns. A man behind the wheel of a city bus rode past and did the same. Young-looking New Yorkers stuck their heads out of cabs and screamed "Trump" as loud as they could. One guy, standing through the sun roof of a black SUV, circled the block several times, cheering.
And then, as you probably know, media outlets called Florida for Trump. Soon they called North Carolina for him, too. And if he could win the swing states...
Robin Bernik, who recently moved from Florida to Oregon, watches as her home state is called for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Republican watch party at the Vet's Club in Eugene, Ore., Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (Brian Davies/The Register-Guard via AP)Credit: APThe crowd swelled. Trump supporters now had to stand outside the barriers. A man holding a huge blue and white banner bearing his candidate's name shouted "Trump's gonna win!" over and over.
People walked by selling red "make America great again" hats that seemed to increase in price every time they came around. More police officers began to patrol up and down the sidewalks.
One of Trump's fans dared to shout "president Trump," and a few people picked up on the chant. He was doing well in Wisconsin, they saw. Michigan and Pennsylvania, too.
All of those states are traditionally Democratic strongholds, and many Trump supporters knew that. Their jaws went a little wide. Their eyes popped.
Across the street, the crowd was building to the size of the original rally. One man, carrying a sticker marking President Barack Obama's last day in office, began to chant "lock the bitch up." He said it again and again, and it didn't take long before others followed. "Hillary for prison," they shouted.
Supporters cheer while watching president-elect Donald Trump's acceptance speech on television at the Colorado Republican election night party Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, in Greenwood Village, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)Credit: APNYPD officers, zip ties at the ready, snaked along the wall behind the Trump fans. They formed a small wall in front of the pen, too.
Down the block, one officer found himself in the middle of a spat, a woman shouting at a Trump supporter, and another Trump fan screaming back.
The officer held out his hand as if to say, "stop." He asked them to please go their separate ways. They cursed and shouted some more.
"Fuck Trump!" This came from another man who stopped behind the pen of Trump fans long enough to flick them off with both hands.
"Fuck you," someone shouted back. "Lock the bitch up."
And then it was done. Someone shouted that Trump had won, that he was now president-elect, and a whoop went up from the pen, small at first but it built until it seemed like the whole crowd was shouting "President Trump."
They hugged. "We did it," they said.
"Trump for the White House," said one man as he carried a huge Trump banner. "Hillary for the prison house."
A few minutes later, a group of supporters again began to shout, "lock her up."
TopicsElections
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