Warning: This post is pure speculation and contains rigid opinions about the proper way to eat pizza in the city.
What the heck do I mean by Queens versus Brooklyn and what possible relevance does this have to Trump's outlook and what his administration will do or not do about driverless vehicles? I'll tell you.
Trump and Scalia grew up in Queens. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Chuck Schumer, and Bernie Sanders grew up in Brooklyn. (In fact, the trio all went to the same high school.) Does the historic difference between the two boroughs become apparent? Admittedly, it's not a totally clear line; Paul Simon grew up in Queens as well.
However, Trump grew up in the swanky enclave of gorgeous houses and wealth in Jamaica Estates, so he is no street smart city kid. Jamaica Estates looks more like Great Neck or Scarsdale than Flushing. This is a suburb within a city that protects itself and wishes it were on the Island - as in Long Island - or in Westchester. And as he showed when he showed Sarah Palin around the city (meaning Manhattan), the man does not even know how to eat one of, if not the, signature dish of his hometown - pizza. If you go to the link, know that my family screamed out on every point even before Jon Stewart did, a sign of real New Yorkers. How can he not know how to eat pizza?
Translation for driverless?
Who the heck knows? Will Trump put roadblocks in front of driverless development and deployment, thus sending an entire industry that the US is still leading overseas? Or will he like the idea of the US leading the transformation of transportation?
Will Trump favor the safety benefits and equity arguments in favor of driverless? I'm thinking not, given his mocking of people with disabilities during the campaign. More likely is that Trump is aware of where his bread is buttered and those votes came from communities where truck drivers live and drive through, the very drivers who might lose their jobs in a few years.
But really, no one knows because ideological consistency and being well informed before making statements or decisions are not hallmarks of the man about to assume the presidency - the second president in a generation to lose the popular vote.
I'd go have a slice, but I have no appetite and I'm inside the Beltway right now, where the pizza at best is mediocre for NYC. I've been here for so long, though, that I will eat that best. I'm hoping I can manage a slice in the city by Thanksgiving. And not with a fortk! OMG, fold the slice and pick it up. Eat the grease, let it run off the slice, doesn't matter, but you eat it with your hands!!!
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