Again, there’s a New Yorker in the White House

When Donald Trump is inaugurated as our 47th president the week after next, he will (once again) be the only president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt who is a born-and-bred New Yorker. Despite his recent relocation to Florida, where he has presided from Mar-a-Lago like an overlord, Trump has never escaped his New York roots. This is important to New York and Long Island. I say this not because of any native-son pride, but because downstate New York has unique issues and challenges that can be best understood and addressed by a true New Yorker.

Like me, Trump grew up in Queens, but that’s where the geographic comparison ends. He was raised in very upscale Jamaica Estates. I grew up in very blue-collar Sunnyside. Same time; different stations. Of course, that didn’t stop Trump from implying to people in Washington that he and I grew up together. So much so that non-New York members of Congress would ask me, “What kind of guy was he growing up?” And my misleading non-answer would always be, “Same as he is today.”

Despite the very different economic aspects of our upbringings, Trump and I, in many ways, spoke the same language. I distinctly remember when he invited me to the White House in February 2017, a few weeks after his inauguration, for a routine bill-signing ceremony. As we spoke for just a few minutes, he gave a big smile and said, “It’s great to hear that New York accent down here.”

Several times when I was talking with him on Air Force One, when he was flying to Long Island to address the MS-13 murder spree, I felt as if I were speaking with just another guy on a Queens street corner, and had to keep reminding myself that I was talking to the president of the United States. (His anti-MS-13 efforts succeeded in crushing the gang’s reign of terror in Nassau and Suffolk counties.)

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robably the most relaxed I ever saw Trump was when he invited me to join him at ringside for a night of UFC fights at Madison Square Garden in November 2019. The loud full-house crowd chanting “USA!” and giving him thumbs ups was a stark contrast to the Ukraine impeachment proceedings against him that were under way at the same time in Washington.

This year, his giant rallies at Madison Square Garden and the Nassau Coliseum were major parts of his winning campaign.

Trump also had friendships with Long Islanders such as former U.S. Sen. Al D’Amato, from his years in Washington, and Joe Mondello, who was Trump’s attorney in several business transactions and was later appointed ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago by Trump. More recently, the president-elect has formed close friendships with County Executive Bruce Blakeman, county Republican Party Chairman Joe Cairo and former Congressman Lee Zeldin.

Trump’s brother Robert lived in Garden City for many years until he died in 2020. On a somber note, I was there last March when Trump came to the funeral home in Massapequa to comfort the family of murdered NYPD hero Jonathan Diller.

Over the next several years, New York will need the support and cooperation of President Trump to address critical issues, including illegal immigration, crime and drugs, health care for those who continue to be affected by the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, aging infrastructure, congested traffic and high taxes. We will especially need him to fight off anti-New York elements in the Republican Party who have too often in the past clearly demonstrated their geographic bias. Together, whether Republican or Democrat, New Yorkers should work to find common ground with the president to make New York great again.

This column first appeared in the LI Herald. Peter King is a former LI congressman, and a former chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security.