NEW YORK/TRANSPORTATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Even though he declared himself a citizen of Florida last year, President Trump continues to loom over the city that was once his home. Since his surprise victory in 2016, Mr. Trump has increasingly clashed with New York lawmakers, many of them the same people he had spent years donating to and seeking favors from. Now, rather than cutting deals, Mr. Trump is becoming an unavoidable roadblock to some of New York’s most ambitious projects. He objected to rail tunnels … For years, transportation experts said economic activity in the New York City region would vastly be improved if new rail tunnels were dug under the Hudson River. Officials in both states agreed and earmarked money for the projects. But plans stalled in March 2018. That’s when Mr. Trump urged Republicans to withdraw federal funding, reportedly out of anger at Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader from New York.”
–Azi Paybarah, “New Front in Trump’s Clashes With New York,” The New York Times online, February 26, 2020