The following is a first-person account by BarrieToday freelance photojournalist Kevin Lamb following a recent visit to Trump Tower in New York City.
A recent summertime trip to New York City was supposed to be a day of visiting art galleries and the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.
But on our final day, we unexpectedly experienced an afternoon of passive-aggressive rebellion as my wife and I supported New Yorkers as they voiced their displeasure outside Trump Tower where the president of the United States calls home most of the time now.
We were not disappointed.
Shortly after lunch on a humid Saturday in August, we were escaping the broiling urban heat in an air-conditioned cab when we decided to pay Trump’s place a visit.
I joked to the slightly bemused (then amused) taxi driver that we would love to check out where the “crazy man” lives. He quickly caught on and we soon found ourselves standing outside the faux-gold entranceway to Trump Tower.
I was fascinated to see the level of security that was in place as several New York police officers stuffed inside battle armour and brandishing assault rifles stood as a first line of defence alongside a few well-dressed Secret Service agents.
I felt sorry for them having to put up with the oppressive heat in outfits like that.
We strolled by them and could feel their eyes upon us as we entered through the doors into a high-ceilinged lobby.
We placed all of the items that we had with us into the X-ray machine, which included my backpack with lots of camera gear, and made our way into a world of tackiness at the level that I wasn’t quite expecting.
The place reeked of fakery on a grand scale, as everything that could be faux-gold plated or marbleized, was.
Part of the atmosphere seemed like a carnival in a way, with Trump ice cream on offer as tourists like us were just there to take it all in and try to figure out what this man is really all about.
A stop into the Trump store was at least entertaining in a nauseating sort of way with all things emblazoned with 'Trump', including bath salts, fake gold bricks, dog collars, children’s clothing and teddy bears.
But what I really wanted to see was the 2020 election campaign items for sale.
For those, we had to go to another part of the building to a small shop packed full of everything you could think of for the conscientious 'MAGA' supporter.
Outside of the now-famous Make America Great Again hats and shirts that lined the walls there were plastic Trump drinking straws that proudly and loudly proclaimed that “Liberal paper straws don’t work. STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP and buy your pack of recyclable straws today," which clearly seemed to miss the point of trying to eliminate plastic from our oceans that choke, poison and kill wildlife on a massive scale.
There were “presidential medals” with Trump's face on them, weird “limited edition NO COLLUSION beverage coolers” to slip your Budweisers into that feature a screenshot of his infamous tweet of “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!”
If that particular tweet does not interest you then there are also decals, coffee mugs and more with the Twitter screenshot of “WITCH-HUNT!” instead.
I expected some strange things in this place, but even those surprised me. One item that topped the list for me was the 'Make America Great Again' pride hat, featuring the lettering in rainbow colouring, which screamed of confusion to me due to the public stance on that thorny subject of many in the Republican Party.
And if you are surprised that The Donald is still in charge of the United States of America after all that has gone on so far, you can sip your morning joe out of a coffee mug that reads: “I love waking up & remembering that Donald Trump is President,” as Democrats all over America try to rally the nation to vote their way out of their political nightmare.
We left the shop more weirded out than amused.
But there was one item that I wanted to bring home with me for its sheer kitschy-ness: the cartoony 'Space Force' T-shirt.
A throwback to 1980s sci-fi logo design, it was one bit of Trump apparel that I felt I needed to bring home as a tongue-in-cheek way to mock the silliness of Trump’s new arm of the military and, at the same time, celebrate my nerdy love of all things outer space.
I received a hard “No!” from my wife.
“If you give that man money, we will have to get divorced,” she said jokingly... or completely serious for all I knew.
I promised that however much the shirt cost, I will donate twice the amount to the campaign of Bernie Sanders.
Apparently that generous offer to help save the world from tyranny was not good enough, so I abandoned my quest for the perfect shirt that was bound to evoke laughter from everyone that I would meet while wearing it.
As we exited the president’s gaudy castle we went left, literally and figuratively, down Fifth Avenue and into a crowd of protesters gathering to loudly oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policy shifts.
We were asked if we were unhappy with what has been going on in Washington and if we wanted to join them.
He’s not our president, but living in the enormous shadow of America, we decided to do a bit of banner waving with our new like-minded friends in support of them, as good neighbours would.
As a photojournalist, I have covered many protests over the years and have always maintained neutrality as the job requires, but this time I was on vacation with my wife, so it was a satisfying afternoon with her freely expressing our opinions as citizens of free countries that have won the right to do so peacefully.
It was much better than strolling along the quiet halls of a museum anyway.
This is New York, after all, where keeping your opinions to yourself has never been what the city is known for.
