On Tuesday, April 16, former President Donald Trump visited a Harlem bodega after his hush money trial. The bodega he visited was the one where, in July of 2022, the clerk was viciously attacked by a violent criminal and, after he defended himself from that criminal, was persecuted by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who charged him with second-degree murder.
That clerk, 61-year-old Jose Alba, had the charges against him dropped after outrage exploded over the case. Commenters were particularly indignant that Mr. Alba was ever even charged in the first place, as he had been assaulted before stabbing the criminal, with the individual getting behind the counter and attacking him.
Even the city’s leftist mayor, Mayor Eric Adams, sounded off on the matter. “My heart goes out to the employee who was in the store doing his job,” Adams said. He continued, “I am hoping that we take all of that into consideration, as this hard-working New Yorker was doing his job, and someone aggressively went behind the counter to attack him.”
In any case, Trump showed up to the bodega to the roaring applause and cheers of the crowd that had gathered to greet him, with the enthusiastic crowd chanting “Four more years!” as he walked up and into the bodega. That support was shocking to many, given that Manhattan is generally a stronghold for Democrats on the far left.
Former President Trump, speaking about why he was visiting the bodega and how Americans want law and order, said, “This is a very exciting time for me because the bodegas association invited me. And I respect them, and they respect me. They want law and order, they have tremendous crime, tremendous crime over there, stores are being robbed.”
Continuing, he said that New York is “different” and needs to be straightened out, particularly as regards the plague of crime that has made it far worse in recent years. He said, “New York’s a lot different. And we’ll work with the mayor. We will work with the governor. And we’ll bring a lot of federal money, but we have to straight out New York. And that includes crime.”
After the visit, Trump posted about it on Truth Social, saying, “MAKE NEW YORK SAFE AGAIN!” and “THANK YOU, HARLEM! #MAGA.” Included in his “MAKE NEW YORK SAFE AGAIN!” post was a clip of his visit from Fox News Channel. Watch that here:
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And watch Trump’s visit to the bodega here:
Speaking about the trial earlier in the day on Tuesday the 16th, Trump tore into DA Alvin Bragg and the trial being brought against him, saying, “This is all politics, this is coming out of the White House. And you know, it makes me campaign locally, and that’s OK.” He added, “We’re doing better now than we’ve ever done, so I think it’s having a reverse effect.”
Continuing, Trump said, “All I want is fairness, and these people have to be treated better, the bodegas association, bodegas, because every week they’re being robbed two-three times, it’s crazy.” Continuing, he added, “It’s Alvin Bragg’s fault. Alvin Bragg does nothing. He goes after guys like Trump.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video