‘Trash’ talk has especially consumed the US elections debate since comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s remarks at the former president’s Madison Square Garden rally opened a bigoted tirade against Latinos, Puerto Rico and other minorities. The following chain reaction has been nothing short of explosive, with President Joe Biden shooting proverbial shots at MAGA backers in yet another “garbage” comment. It has since pushed Donald Trump to ride a garbage truck and capitalise on the sitting commander-in-chief’s major gaffe.
A Manhattan-based MAGA supporter, Sophie Sassoon, consequently paraded as a “chic garbage bag” to the polls last week, drawing some love and some gate. The self-proclaimed British native-turned-US voter reportedly emigrated to New York 19 years ago. Initially stretching out her stay via a green card, Sassoon was ultimately motivated by the ex-POTUS’ impassioned words ahead of the 2016 election to officially transition to her citizenship status. Speaking of the “urgency” to vote for the Republican candidate, she told The New York Post, “I didn’t need to be a citizen, but I decided I had to exercise my right as a voter. There was an urgency to do it then to vote for Trump.”
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As a former fashion industry worker, Sassoon wore a black garbage bag while stepping out to vote for Trump during this year’s election cycle. The Manhattanite paired her unlikely pick with a red Hermes belt, a matching Chanel bag, and red Louboutin shoes.
NYC voter on dressing up as a garbage bag at the polls: How others reacted to her experiment
“I wanted to be a chic garbage bag – almost as an experiment to show that this is what garbage looks like,” she said. The NYC voter also established that even though she became the target of mockery in the eyes of a few, people cheering for her were far louder. “People were cheering, giving me thumbs up and honking.” Either way, Sassoon admitted that she “got way more love than hate,” as many people at the location “thanked” her for “being brave” as well. Contrarily, “only one woman screamed out, ‘You better not need an abortion.’” The NYC fashionista hit her back with, “That’s in the hands of the state, not the president.”
Also posing with sanitation and construction workers, Sassoon hailed Trump as “one of the best presidents we ever had,” crediting his campaign run to the former president’s rhetoric on border, inflation and Iran.
Biden previously created an uproar while attempting to take a swipe at Hiinchcliffe’s remarks, which he failed, saying, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”
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Sassoon recounted how a poll worker checking her in at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, her polling stop, told her “Oh, the garbage comment was days ago.” The NYC voter ultimately counter-fired her response, “Guess what? It still stinks,” as she also flamed the woman for “trivialising” Biden’s gaffe directed at MAGA supporters.
A lawyer working with the Republican National Committee to ensure election integrity torched the polls employee’s “very inappropriate” remarks, saying, “The worker clearly was expressing her own personal viewpoint onto a voter in the polling site.”
Read more | HT in US: Special Coverage of the American elections by Prashant Jha
