DON SURBER: The Lynching of a President: Trump has them singing the Star-Spangled Banner in Harlem.
Related: Trump’s Perfect Jab in the Eye to Alvin Bragg During a Bodega Visit.
Trump went to Harlem to speak to Maad Ahmed and small business advocate Francisco Marte at the Sanaa Convenient Store, formerly known as the Blue Convenient Store. This is the bodega where a clerk, Jose Alba, stabbed an ex-con to death in self-defense two years ago. The case became national news because Alba was charged with murder.
It was D.A. Alvin Bragg who decided to charge Jose with murder though Austin Simon, a 35-year-old ex-con, was caught on camera cornering Alba, 61, in a fight over chips. Simon’s girlfriend, Tina Lee, stabbed Alba during the chaos.
Jose was charged with second-degree murder and spent about a week in jail before prosecutors in Alvin Bragg’s office agreed to lower his $250,000 bail. The charges were eventually dropped, thanks to the pressure from the public who were outraged. Jose was so traumatized by the whole experience that he returned to the Dominican Republic, where he remains today.
Ahmed and Marte are supporting Donald Trump for president. They have had enough, as other small business owners have. Local government in New York City is allowing crime to run rampant and bodegas are robbed regularly. His message to Trump, he said, was to be that the city is not safe. . . .
The visit to the bodega after spending all day in court was classic Trump on the campaign trail. Mingling with ordinary working people is his superpower. Joe Biden was campaigning in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. He made a campaign speech before screened supporters and then went to a training facility of some sort and delivered some remarks.
Of course the city isn’t safe. The only people Bragg will prosecute are those who aren’t criminals.