After Trump shooting, many in Lower Hudson Valley dismayed by divide

Timothy Forte, a 65-year-old retiree in a "U.S. Army Veteran" hat, grasped for words Sunday morning about the state of the country after the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump.

"That's the life we're living now," he said. "Stuff like this happens all the time."

As he was heading into BJs on Route 119 in Greenburgh, Forte had a look of exasperation and disappointment about the state of the nation, not unlike other shoppers who stopped to talk Sunday morning. Forte said he was not a Trump supporter, but that it didn't matter.

"What happened to him is terrible; it should have never happened," Forte said. "What's going to happen now? I don't know what's going to happen now."

Across the Lower Hudson Valley on Sunday morning, from Greenburgh to Piermont, Nyack to Mount Kisco, people tried to make sense of Saturday's attack, which killed one spectator and critically injured two others, in addition to Trump's injury. People expressed widely divergent political opinions, as expected, but most also shared a pretty cynical view about the worsening political divide and where things might go after the attempt on Trump's life.

Most also thought that Trump is more likely to be elected.

A note to our readers: Coverage of the shooting at former President Trump's rally in Pennsylvania was limited in Sunday's printed edition due to our deadlines. We have updated and expanded the Nation & World Extra section in your Sunday eNewspaper with special coverage of the shooting – you can see 8 full pages of coverage now in section NN of your eNewspaper. Ongoing live coverage can always be found here. 

John Milioti, 64, a former mover from West Harrison, blamed the rhetoric of Democrats for inciting Saturday's shooting. He expected more voters to pay attention now.

"The left is ridiculous, saying that Trump is like Hitler and Mussolini. I'm tired of it," said Milioti, wearing a "Trump 2024: Take America Back" cap. "He's trying to make the country better. We're in hell right now."

Nelson and Angela Abreu of Pleasantville, no fans of Trump, said they were shocked by Saturday's violence and oppose violence in all forms. But they're even more concerned about where Trump's politics could lead.

"Women's rights are being attacked and undermined," said Angela Abreu, 49, an associate director for Verizon. "That's my number one priority right now."

Nelson Abreu, 54, a trader, said that the political climate is so concerning that "all I want to do is take care of my kids in the future."

"I don't know where we go from here, until our political rivals find a way to work with each other and accept each other's differences," he said. "That's what this is all about, right? ... People should just listen to each other. Try. I mean, what is this country about?"

Paul and Linda Weiss of Ossining, big Trump supporters, said the attack on Trump should lead to more Republican votes and implied that Democrats may have been connected to the shooting, a notion all over social media Sunday despite any evidence of such a connection.

"More people will vote for Donald Trump," said Paul Weiss, 74. "Right now, we have too many immigrants, high taxes and inept foreign policy."

"Wake up America," said Linda Weiss, 69. The couple manufacture wedding and formalwear in Yonkers. "Trump is the only one who can make America great."

Shariyf Jefferson, 44, a mechanic from Yonkers, said he’s not a fan of politicians. "Politics is a dirty little business," he said as he and his wife, Daisy Jefferson, 44, an administrative assistant at St. John's Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, were loading their vehicle with months of groceries.

But he expects the assassination attempt will lead to Trump’s election.

“He wins,” Jefferson said. “Because he looks stronger… That’s how life works.”

Daisy Jefferson, like others, couldn't understand how the shooter was able to carry out the attack.

"Trump has so much security and personnel," she said. "How is that even possible?"

One woman who stopped to talk about the nation's political nastiness did not want to give her name because she said she was fearful of who might see it and react.

Anthony Vespa, 62, of Bronxville, a retired New York City police officer, tried to be hopeful.

"It's horrific, it's inexcusable," he said. "There's no room for this to happen in the world. It's sad today. Everyone has to come together and unite together and have peace.

"Stop all this being against each other."

At Piermont park, strong views both ways

Flywheel Park in Piermont teemed with activity on a sunny Sunday morning as vendors set up for a weekly farmer’s market. People strolling by or sitting next to the park had a lot to say when asked about the shooting and its possible impact on the campaign. Some held strong views for or against Trump and spoke from those perspectives. Others gave measured views that betrayed no political leanings.

“It’s unfortunate. I think it makes him a martyr, which is more unfortunate,” said Mariann Sauvion, a South Nyack resident seated in a pavilion next to the Hudson River. “The fact that he raised his fist like the symbol of Black power in the 60s — instead of now representing white supremacy in the 2020s — I find it to be disheartening.”

She saw the shooting as another example of the nation’s gun-violence problem and lax gun laws in states like Pennsylvania. And she rejected the Republican charge that strong Democratic rhetoric about Trump posing a threat to democracy may have contributed to the shooting.

“I buy the fact that I feel that he’s a threat to democracy — definitely,” Sauvion said. “He has his whole agenda. He’s going to take out whoever he can the first day he’s in office, get rid of any long-term civil servants and replace them with sycophants.”

Seated nearby on a bench in front of the Piermont library, Max Beer could not have disagreed more. He wore his political beliefs quite clearly: a red baseball cap that read “Keep America Great” paired with an anti-Biden t-shirt, complete with expletives.

“If you look at this campaign, from the day that this man announced that he was running, the left was going to impeach him, they were going to do this, violence was mentioned,” said Beer, who lives in Piermont. “What did Biden say? ‘Just put him in the bull's-eye'? That’s a very inflammatory statement.”

Beer was disappointed the Secret Service had killed the shooter before he could be interrogated about his motives.

He expects the attempted assassination will help elect Trump, along with the “fake 34-indictment case” — Trump's recent conviction on charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star.

Jack Collins, a Montebello resident seated in front of a store next to the park, gave a non-partisan reaction to the shooting, saying it struck him the same way as hearing about the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King in 1968, and the attempted killing of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

“It’s like somebody punches you, I mean it’s just terrible when you hear it,” Collins said. “No matter what your political affiliation, I’m just glad he’s OK.”

He said today’s political atmosphere felt similar to the tension of the late 60s. “And I just hope that all Americans join (in on) condemning this act of violence, no matter what your political bent is," he added.

He doesn't expect the shooting to have a lasting impact on the campaign. But Ron Steinberg, a friend from Piermont, predicted it will lead to Trump winning by a landslide, particularly if Biden stays in the race.

“People are just going to be angry that they attacked him,” Steinberg said. “You don’t want to see somebody get shot, nobody wants to see that.”

At Nyack fair, Kennedy supporter sees character assassination, too

At the Nyack Street Fair, Krystle Stephens of Hawthorne, New Jersey, shared the view of many who don't support Trump but now believe he is more likely to return to the White House.

“I’m not a supporter of his, but it’s still hard to see," Stephens said. "The whole gun thing in this country in and of itself worries me. I think the majority of people now are going to want him to be president and he’s going to win.”

Amid the popular fair's colorful stands and tasty treats, volunteers for local political campaigns were still trying to get people engaged for November's elections.

Lorraine MacKenzie, 70, from Blauvelt, a volunteer for Robert Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign, said she expected some people to think the shooting was a setup since many still question John F. Kennedy’s assassination attempt more than 60 years ago.

She believes Robert Kennedy Jr. is now facing character assassination from his critics.

“We’re in sad shape," MacKenzie said. "For both Trump and Kennedy, I mean, if people are desperate enough to bankrupt people, character assassinate them and do legal actions against them, and when they find that it’s not working they actually try and assassinate them, we’re not in a democracy.”

Joseph Porvecchio, 75, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and retired in 1999, blamed the media for the assassination attempt. He said he hopes, and expects, that support would build for Trump.

“What happened yesterday was inevitable because of all the rhetoric in the media demonizing the former president," he said. "So that drove people to do things that they probably wouldn’t do if it wasn’t for the bombardment of the media and the kind of hyperbole that resulted in that kind of attack."

Dale Ramdass, 49, from Bergen County, New Jersey, said the shooting, sadly, would be upstaged by something else.

"In a couple of weeks, it’s just going to turn into yesterday’s news," Ramdass said.

'It's disgusting how conflicted our country has become'

In Mount Kisco on Sunday morning, residents were still reeling from the news.

At Mimi’s Coffee House, Marjana Pjetrani, 62, an immigrant from Albania, was wishing the best for Trump, who she supports for president in the 2024 election.

“I’m so sorry for the former president,” she said. “I’m so sorry what’s happening in this country, the best country in the world. “

Rob Bloch, of Mount Kisco, who was getting coffee at the Bagel and Bean Café, lamented the state of affairs in the U.S. political world, as the Republican Party convention starts Monday in Milwaukee and Democrats look forward to their convention in Chicago in August.

“It’s terrible out there,” said Bloch. “It’s disgusting how conflicted our country has become. We need two new candidates.”

At another table, Richard Knopf, of Mount Kisco, said the shooting showed just how much some Americans fear a second Trump term as president.

“Everybody is afraid of Trump,” he said.

At Trump Plaza in New Rochelle

Jorge Batista, who owns an apartment at Trump Plaza in New Rochelle, analogized Saturday's violence to prior instances where U.S. presidents have been targeted for assassination.

Batista believes that the attempt on Trump’s life, if anything, bolsters the Republican’s electoral prospects come November. He referenced the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, who would go on to win re-election three years later.

“The politics continue. Life continues,” he observed. “He’s lucky he didn’t die, that’s it.”

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Lower Hudson residents stunned by political split after Trump shooting