Hello neighbor,

It reaches the point where we will say: “As Staten Island goes, so goes the nation.”

Staten Island supported Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Two in three. Not bad. (Three out of three for those who think 2020 was stolen.)

It’s no surprise. Most of our neighbors are more in the middle of America than in the middle of Manhattan.

Headlines around the world will read: “Trump beats Harris.”

Perhaps they should read more carefully: “Trump beats Biden.”

Kamala Harris simply couldn’t escape Joe Biden’s terrible handling of border security. She couldn’t avoid the Americans who paid $1.5 for a dozen eggs when Donald Trump was in the Oval Office, and $6 for the same dozen after Joe Biden got the keys to the office.

Inflation. Inflation. Inflation.

Trump and his loyalists couldn’t say it enough.

Did the pandemic have anything to do with it? Shortages in the supply chain? People fired because Covid strangled their businesses?

No. It was all Sleepy Joe’s fault. The pandemic? Forget.

Trump did a fantastic job of tying Harris to every Biden policy and convincing America that “murderers and rapists” roam our streets after crossing the border, while the price of everything from ground beef to gasoline soared.

Whose fault? Biden-Harris, of course. They opened the border wide, shut down pipelines and banned fossil fuel drilling.

It’s exhausting to hear that Harris was equally responsible for Biden’s policies, no matter what she said on “The View.”

But America bought it. Harris wouldn’t argue. She refused to throw her boss under the bus.

It’s hard to know what she was thinking when she attended an interview on “The View.” Just a month ago, with the handwriting on the wall that Biden was the man Americans thought got us into trouble, Harris appeared on the friendly daytime TV talk show.

What would you have done differently than Biden, she was asked.

Wow. A chance to knock it out of the park.

“There’s nothing that comes to mind. I have participated in most of the decisions that have had an impact.”

Admirable, I think. Loyal? I think so.

Smart? Not so much.

CNN could have called the election for Trump right there.

She spent way too much time talking about reproductive rights, abortion and fertility treatments. There wasn’t enough time to talk about people’s pain.

Left-wing media didn’t help. The talking heads spent hours criticizing Trump, turning off swing voters.

Telling horror stories of pregnant women nearly dying in hospital parking lots as doctors feared treating them because of restrictive abortion laws, tragic as they were, might have made people cringe.

But blame Donald Trump? That was, I think, too big a step.

The Harris solution for sticker shock at the supermarket? Put an end to ‘price gouging’.

Hey? Is Kellogg “price gouging” when the price of a box of Frosted Flakes goes up because it costs their truckers more to get it across the country? Shoppers don’t think Nathan’s is “price gouging” when they spend an extra $3 for a dozen hot dogs.

“That damn price went up again!” That’s all they think.

She spent way too much time telling America that Trump is “unhinged” and “unstable,” while Trump hit Harris where it hurts again and again. . .

Inflation. The border. Inflation. The border.

Donald Trump is small-minded. Donald Trump is rude. Donald Trump is vulgar.

Americans know that. Many Americans clearly don’t care. There is even a large group of Americans who love it.

They don’t care that he’s a convicted felon. They don’t care that he sees women like it’s 1954, not 2024, and he has to ‘protect’ them. Heck, a lot of suburban women voted for him.

They do care how much is in their 401k’s. They care about having ‘illegals’ in their neighborhood and getting free shelter, free food and free medical care – all the while struggling to keep their heads above water. They resent not being able to fill their gas tanks and eating out in the same week. They care when a transgender girl plays against their daughters on the basketball court.

If Harris realized this, she hasn’t spent much time educating America.

Harris’ message: “Let’s turn the page.” Okay, turn the page. What then?

Trump’s message: “I’ll fix it.”

Harris was more about the mood in America. Trump was more concerned with the issues, even though his “policies” were so vague and hollow, often lost in his endless rhetoric, which, by the way, was on display again this morning when he gave a semi-victory speech at his headquarters in Florida.

There are many people across America waking up scared this morning. Afraid of what Donald Trump might do after he takes the oath of office in January.

There was a time when people on the losing side of an election said: “I don’t agree with him, but he is the president now and I will support him because I want America to succeed.”

In this divided country, neighbors, I doubt we’ll ever hear that again.

Brian

Oh by the way: We didn’t even get to Republicans taking control of the Senate and Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives. A Republican President Trump will have no checks and balances, starting with his choice of cabinet members. Frankly, Republicans, do you really want Robert Kennedy Jr. makes health decisions for you? And one last thing: Harris picked the wrong man as vice president. JD Vance had him spinning in circles.