ECONOMY/NEW YORK/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump this week added another wrinkle to his long complicated relationship with his home state, when he encouraged residents of upstate New York who are unhappy with the region’s economy to ‘go to another state.’ Mr. Trump’s comments, which came during an interview with reporters at the White House on Wednesday [2-6-19], were his latest critical remarks of the region, which has lost thousands of residents in recent years amid a sluggish economy…Mr. Trump, who lived in New York City for most of his life, has routinely put down upstate New York despite finding widespread support there. In the 2016 election, he flipped 14 upstate counties that Barack Obama won in 2012. Yet during the campaign, he singled out the area as a ‘ghost town,’ and in 2017 suggested to The Wall Street Journal that residents leave the region. ‘It’s O.K., don’t worry about your house,’ he said.”
–Tyler Pager, “Trump Tells Upstate Residents to Flee New York. Republicans There Don’t Disagree.,” The New York Times online, February 7, 2019