Donald Trump’s victory echoed throughout the media and the chitter-chatter of pedestrians out in Downtown Boston on Wednesday. With both concerns and mild optimism, critics and supporters agree that another Trump presidency means change, for better, or worse.
Nathan Borgogni brought his cat and a book out to the Boston Common while the sun was out.
“I’m here to destress and get away from [the election] for a second,” he said.
Borgogni said Trump will be more emboldened in policy-making in this term because of his overwhelming power in the Supreme Court and a Republican majority in the House and Senate.
“He will be able to push through very ambitious agendas, and that is scary,” he added.
As a person who is closely connected to members of the LGBTQ+ community, Borgogni said that he has sympathy for his transgender friends, whom he believes will be heavily affected by anti-trans policies that Trump has recently endorsed.
“It’s very sad [that] this is who we elected as president,” Borgogni said.
Bryan Ochoa, however, thinks that Trump will bring positive changes to the U.S. economy.
“There are a lot of problems with the economy. Everything is so expensive right now. I pay a lot of rent,” he said. “I think the country is going to change in the right direction.”
Ochoa works as a food delivery driver who immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia when he was 16. Since then, he has paid thousands of dollars to an immigration lawyer to assist him in obtaining permanent residence status, the key to legal employment.
“[Trump] says a lot of things [about immigrants], and that’s good. I know a lot of immigrants who do a lot of bad things,” Ochoa said. “If you’re going to come to this country, you have to do things the right way.”
Ochoa said that his life changed when he moved to the States. He thinks Trump will make it better.
“Donald Trump was a good president. I feel good, blessed,” he said.
Gabriela Alcazar’s parents immigrated to the U.S. 25 years ago.
“They are still fighting to get their citizenship in the United States,” she said.
Alcazar, 19, works full-time as a nanny to support her and her family. She is mainly concerned about Trump’s immigration policies, and how they might make life difficult for people in her community.
“I had hopes for Kamala to win,” she said. “Now, it’s scary.”
Trump has repeatedly vowed to enact mass deportations against people without legal immigration documents. He said he wishes to restore his 2019 “Remain in Mexico” program, which was designed to keep asylum seekers behind the southern border while awaiting case resolutions. The program was terminated during President Joe Biden’s time in office.
At the end of Tuesday night’s MassDems election watch party, attendees trickled out as they realized Kamala Harris was unlikely to triumph over Trump. Sofya Mitelman, 76, remained until the last minutes of the event.
Mitelman fled the Soviet Union as a political dissident—a person who opposes the soviet regime—in 1989. She said that as she came to the U.S., she began campaigning for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
“Not because she’s a Democrat or Republican,” Mitelman said. “But because she is smart and decent, and this is enough for me.”
Mitelman said she is hopeful that people will not give up after a Trump victory.
“You young people have to do something,” she said. “You want to be free and not live in a dictatorship? I lived under a dictatorship for 41 years. I know what it’s like. Get up, wake up, and take care of your country.”
Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan said in a statement following the election results that the organization did not expect these results. He then congratulated Warren’s victory in Massachusetts but emphasized that the party has more work ahead of it.
“We cannot create the better nation we all seek if we fail to understand one another,” he said. “As a party, we must be open to listening and finding the lessons from this defeat.”
Noah Bell works as a street sweeper and store clerk in Beacon Hill. He said he agreed with Trump’s approach to the economy and international affairs but exhibited concerns about his volatile statements.
“He strikes me as someone who is about retaliation, vengeance, and get-backs,” he said. “He’s going to come for [the] people that came for him.”
Bell said that he dislikes the way Trump handled police brutality against people of color.
“I don’t feel safe with that. He’s somebody who thinks racism is okay, and I don’t agree or like that,” he said.
In 2020, Trump repeatedly downplayed police violence against Black Americans. He also vowed to militarize the police to enhance a ‘tough on crime’ approach.
“I hope that maybe a light comes for him. He’s in, so that’s it. I just hope he does decent for everybody, for all Americans,” Bell said.
