Donald Trump left the courtroom when his trial adjourned for the day on Tuesday and visited the co-owner of a bodega in Harlem. It was a perfect campaign opportunity and a sharp jab in the eye to Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg.
Did he buy a lottery ticket or perhaps some snacks? Who knows? When Trump visits fast food restaurants, he picks up the tabs of the customers or he buys a round of milkshakes and sandwiches. Trump does well when he plays the everyman and goes where the regular people are.
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.
“What happened to Jose was very hard for me. Jose was defending himself from the guy who came behind the counter. All for $1 worth of chips,” Ahmed, 36, told The Post ahead of Trump’s arrival.
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.
“I have never voted, because I’ve been working, but this time I will. We need Donald Trump back in the White House because he’s a strong guy,” said Ahmed, an immigrant from Yemen and a US citizen.
Marte, president of New York’s Bodega and Small Business Association, said he was grateful for Trump’s support both of small businesses and of “law and order” — but noted his group does not endorse political candidates as a rule.
“This store was where the fight against the liberal laws started, when they were charging Jose Alba with murder for defending himself. The fight against those liberals started here,” he told The Post.
Trump is running hard on bringing back a return to law and order. He is a strong supporter of law enforcement and first responders. Crime is a top issue for voters.
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. His speeches are heavily peppered with Trump references and light on his vision of the future for America. What does he have to run on? Abortion and scaring voters against Trump, that’s what he is running on.
The visit to the bodega took place during Fox’s Special Report, a top-rated show. Fox covered Trump’s arrival and the remarks he made to the press when he left. Supporters were standing outside cheering Trump and chanting “Four more years.” The man knows how to stage an event. Trump has the energy and the momentum while Biden has neither.