Residents react to Trump shocker

Jimena Techera is scared.

Hours after Donald Trump’s shocking defeat of Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8, the Uruguay native began thinking about her friends, who she said are in this country illegally. Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to keep out illegal aliens and to enforce all immigration laws has Techera wondering whether she will ever see them again.

“I am a citizen, but a couple of my friends are illegal and they don’t know what’s going to happen,” said the married mother of one son. “I’m not a fan of Clinton, but this guy is not capable of being president.”

Techera likened Trump’s election to the politics of neighboring countries in Central America, where corruption and dictators are the norm. Uruguay is considered one of the more democratic nations in that area, which is why the results left her speechless.

“I have no words; it’s unbelievable,” she said. “You see this in other countries, but I never hought I would see it here.”

Techera and many other Rockville Centre residents expressed shock, anger, sadness and fear after the final results came in, while others weren’t surprised, saying that Trump connected better with voters than Clinton did.

Especially upset with the results were many Rockville Centre women interviewed by the Herald, who were hoping that Clinton would become the first female president in U.S. history. Trump came under fire numerous times during his campaign for making sexist and disparaging remarks about women.

According to CBS News, gender was a factor in the outcome, but in an unexpected way. Trump beat Clinton by 53 percent to 41 percent among men, while Clinton won among women by 54 percent to 42 percent overall. But Trump beat Clinton among white women, 53 percent to 43 percent.

Those statistics confirmed what one Rockville Centre woman believed all along. “I think it’s a straight sexist thing,” said the resident, who declined to be identified. “She’s super-qualified. Whatever shady misgivings or anything else that people may have about her marriage and anything else, those have nothing to do with her qualifications. She served her country so well for 30 years, and there’s never been any problems that would make her unfit. I think she loves this country.”

The woman also had a message for those of her gender who did not support the Democratic candidate. “To quote Madeline Albright, there should be a ninth circle of hell for women who do not support other women,” because this couldn’t have happened otherwise, she said.

Many of the Rockville Centre women admitted that they cried while watching the election coverage, while others angrily painted an apocalyptic picture of the country’s future. Another confessed to taking down her American flag when it became apparent that Trump would be the president-elect.

“When I think about it, I start to cry,” said another woman, who declined to elaborate as her eyes welled up before she stormed off.

Nancy Skoglund said she was also in tears when she learned the results in the middle of the night. But sadness turned to anger when she began thinking about Trump as the country’s next president.

“He’s a narcissistic, mentally challenged man,” she said. “I was shocked and so disappointed in the American people because they were brainwashed by a man who’s not well. He’s a sick man.”

Skoglund was especially insulted by what she perceived to be Trump’s arrogance and lack of accountability.

“He cannot take blame for anything that he does,” she said. “He cannot say he’s sorry. He always has to blame something else. But it’s always something else that he goes to and he attacks in order to avoid looking at himself.”

One Rockville Centre resident who was happy with the results was Trump supporter Paul Roberti. He didn’t trust the pre-election polls and thought the Republican candidate resonated better with the working class.

“People thought for the first time that somebody was looking out for them,” he said. “The coal miners, people who lost auto jobs, I think they finally thought that someone was interested in them.”

Despite the high emotion and violent demonstrations nationwide in the days following the election, Rockville Centre Police Commissioner Chuck Gennario said there had been no protests or cases of violence or vandalism in the village.