By Ava Dela Pena
As thousands of supporters of former president Donald Trump streamed into the Nassau Coliseum parking lot in Uniondale Wednesday for a rally, members of the Nassau County Democratic Party stood at a nearby protest chanting, “We won’t go back! We won’t go back!”
“Donald Trump was bad for Nassau County, New York State and the United States when he was in office,” State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs said. “He will be bad for Nassau County, New York State and the United States. God forbid he should get back in office.”
Former New York governor David Paterson, who grew up in Hempstead and graduated from the Hofstra University School of Law, State Sen. Kevin Thomas of Levittown, Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages of Elmont, Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages of Lawrence and one-time congressional candidate Robert Zimmerman, all Democrats, joined the protesters.
“This is my district,” Thomas, one of two Democratic senators from Long Island, told a cheering crowd. “This is not what Nassau County wants, and this is not what Nassau County needs. Trump needs to go home, and we need to get him and the rest of his cronies out of office.”
Protesters stood in solidarity with Haitian immigrants following Trump’s statements in his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris during which he accused Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, of kidnapping and eating dogs and cats. The statements, having begun as an unfounded social media rumor, were debunked by Ohio elected and other officials as well as multiple media outlets.
Trump said, “‘Well I saw it on the internet.’ Now who do you want to vote for? Somebody who pays attention to the people, or someone who reads and believes everything they see on the internet?” Zimmerman said.
“Haitians from all over the country . . . are going to come together to denounce the xenophobic, racist acts that he has done,” said Michaelle Solages, who with her brother, Carrié, is of Haitian descent.
“I am deeply offended by the injustice that has occurred in which they are using Haitian and Haitian-American immigrants as a political football,” Carrié said.
“Hate never wins,” he continued, as a Trump supporter with an oversized “Make America Great Again” flag chanted the former president’s slogans nearby.
The supporter then continued to antagonize the protesters. “We already put a Black man in office,” he yelled at a Black protester clad in an American flag. “Now you want to put a Black woman in?”
“There are sane Republicans out there,” said Nick, a protester. “I used to love Republicans, I used to debate them. And now that’s gone.”
“I don’t think diversity is something they see a lot of,” said a protester named Mia.
Trump’s choice to campaign in the historically blue state of New York may have excited Republicans, but confused Democrats. At his rally seven hours later, Trump vowed he would “win New York,” although he is not projected to capture the state. According to the latest Siena polling, Harris leads Trump by 13 percentage points in New York.
“He was supposed to get sentenced today,” a protester named Carl said of Trump, referencing Trump’s conviction in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records. State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, a Hofstra law school graduate, was to sentence the former president on Sept. 18, but delayed sentencing until after the election.
The Democratic protesters said they found value in turning out at the Trump rally. “We need to get the House of Representatives back,” Nick said. New York congressional districts one two and four “are Republican, and we want to get them back to Democrat so we can get the House of Representatives back.”
“If you want to go backward, just like a car, you press R. But if you want to go forward, you press D,”Michaelle Solages said.
