It’s time for full disclosure: Donald Trump is a son of Queens. The scion of a second-generation German and an immigrant mother from Scotland, the Donald grew up in Jamaica Estates in what would eventually become known as the World’s Borough.
Back in 1950, four years after Trump was born in Woodhaven, Queens was 97 percent white, according to Census data, and most foreign-born residents were from Europe.
Even though Trump was in his 20s when the tsunami of immigration swept Queens, he presumably had rubbed shoulders with enough people from other cultures to have some appreciation for the diversity that would ultimately define his home county.
After all, his first wife was from Czechoslovakia and his third is from Slovenia, so he has dared to reach outside the United States for matrimonial partners with the last try an apparent charm.
In short, America’s most outrageous developer with respectable Queens roots was raised by one immigrant and married two others.
Despite the foreign DNA pulsing through his veins and those of his children, he has emerged as a shrill anti-immigrant candidate for president with visions of making the White House Trump Tower One.
Mr. Trump, with his Queens birthright buried deep on his resumé, is on a tear to root out illegal newcomers to this country—at least those who don’t trace their ancestry to white Europe.
As the GOP front-runner, our man from Jamaica Estates has set his sights on Mexican immigrants, calling them “drug dealers and rapists.” There are relatively few Mexicans in Queens, who shouldn’t be a threat to the Donald, but the notorious El Chapo Mexican drug lord, who just broke out of jail, has put a $100 million bounty on Trump’s head.
The developer has incensed lawmakers across the political spectrum with his attacks on immigrants and Sen. John McCain, who has failed to live up to the flamboyant candidate’s idea of a war hero.
But you’ve got to give our Queens boy credit: In a deeply polarized country, he has united Republicans and Democrats in their distaste for his campaign tactics. He may have a future in politics, after all.
As for Queens, few are claiming Trump as one of our own. Councilman Eric Ulrich, the borough’s sole Republican lawmaker, has urged Jamaica Hospital to take down the Trump name from its pavilion.
The truth is Queens has moved beyond Trump’s narrow circle. The richness of the borough is in its diversity, and however much he may want to flaunt his trash and flash, Trump is an embarrassment to all Queens residents regardless of immigrant status.
