High Hopes for Trump Presidency

Despite the nationwide rallies and candlelight vigils protesting the election of Donald Trump last week, those who voted for him on Nov. 8 remain steadfast. The president-elect won Suffolk County, though not the South Fork, yet his support here was still strong. 

“I see him as much more moderate than people think,” said Andy Sabin of Amagansett, the chairman of the Sabin Metal Corporation, a leading refiner of precious metals in the United States and the founder of the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton. 

The front yard of Mr. Sabin’s seven-acre compound on Bluff Road was covered with anti-Clinton and pro-Trump signs and posters during the campaign. “I gave him a hundred grand,” Mr. Sabin said. “I spent a lot of money on this election. And it was well worth it. I think Trump is going to surprise you. You have to give him a chance. He is not a Washington insider. He is feeling his way.”

Mr. Sabin spoke highly of Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, whom Mr. Trump announced this week would be his chief of staff. He called him a good friend and “a wonderful guy.” 

Others said Mr. Trump was not their first choice, but that their vote for him was as much a vote against Hillary Clinton and a rejection of an extended Obama administration.

“For me, Trump was not my ideal candidate or my first choice,” said Tim Doran, a former marine who lives in Sag Harbor. He liked what he was hearing from the other Republican candidates, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and John Kasich. “Once he won the Republican nomination, he was the only choice because it was impossible for me to vote for Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Doran said. His vote was about “the rejection of progressive Democrats and the corruption behind the Clinton machine.” 

While Mr. Sabin has been outspoken about Mrs. Clinton in the past — some of his signs said “Clinton for Prison” — he spoke little about her on Monday, calling her simply a flawed candidate. “ ‘Basket of deplorables’? She didn’t learn her lesson from the Romney mistake about the 47 percent,” he said.

“As a woman, I never felt Clinton made it on her own,” said Carole Campolo of Springs. “The fact that the Democratic party, mainstream media, and others, were all telling women that we had to vote for her . . . as a 65-year-old professional woman, was demeaning and patronizing to me.” She added, “We are independent, smart, and professional and we are not led around by our nose.” 

Ms. Campolo, a Ted Cruz supporter, took great umbrage at Mr. Trump’s “Lyin’ Ted” remarks and his insinuation that Mr. Cruz’s father had something to do with the Kennedy assassination, as well as his comments about Megyn Kelly, the Fox News journalist, during a CNN interview: “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” 

It was “outrageous,” Ms. Campolo said, and she wrote a letter that was published in The New York Post calling his comments crass and undignified and saying that it was time for him to step aside. 

Mr. Doran did not like some of the things Mr. Trump did and said on the campaign trail. “People don’t always choose their words wisely,” he said, calling Mr. Trump an egotist who is thin-skinned, but speaks from the heart. “In some ways I kind of like that because I don’t like politicians who have that carefully measured answer.” He believes Mr. Trump cares about the country. “I think he’ll do less damage than Hillary in the long run.” 

“In the end, as I think you saw with a lot of Republicans, and I know a lot of Republicans here were supporting Ted Cruz, I think you saw us coalesce,” Mr. Doran said. 

“I voted for him because I see him a pragmatist,” Ms. Campolo said. “The presidency is the biggest management job on the planet. Say what you want about him, the guy is a manager.” So far, she is pleased with what’s she seen from him since the election. “If he keeps his campaign promises, I think he will be a spectacular president.” 

“I think our government is way too intrusive and way too big and way too unwieldy,” Mr. Doran said. “It ceased a long time ago to work in the best interest of the American people. I think the American people are looking for a change. I certainly am.” 

Ms. Campolo, Mr. Sabin, and Mr. Doran each mentioned illegal immigration as one of the issues they hope Mr. Trump will tackle first when he takes office. 

“I am not against immigrants,” Mr. Sabin said. But, “everybody who enters this country has to be checked out. If you can’t check them out, if you don’t know what has happened since they were born, don’t let them come in. If they are illegal here, and we find out you did something wrong —  out.”

Whether Mr. Trump builds a wall at the southern border of the United States as he has promised is not the issue, Ms. Campolo said. However, she believes something needs to be done to rectify what illegal immigration is doing to states and local communities. She also believes that the “unnecessary bureaucratic structure that has been built just for people to come here,” is something Mr. Trump can tackle well. 

Mr. Doran agrees with Mr. Trump that something needs to be done at the southern border. “I might disagree with some of the rhetoric,” he said, adding he understands the need to find a better life, but that the immigration system has to be fixed. “That doesn’t mean we can just let them come in by the millions either because we need to be able to care for them and ensure their success somehow. People are really treated poorly in the journey here and they don’t necessarily end up with the American dream.” 

Mr. Sabin’s foundation has donated $3.5 million to the Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law, which was renamed the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law in his honor. 

Mr. Trump has often referred to climate change and global warming as a hoax, and in a May 2016 speech on energy policy in North Dakota he vowed to “cancel the Paris climate agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.” 

“Why not, instead of regulating people,” Mr. Sabin asked, offer incentives to achieve the goal of lower carbon emissions? “It’s called clean tax cuts, giving major tax cuts to companies willing to do R and D, and to put money into cleaning up a coal plant and putting in natural clean energy, but not regulate them, you’re going to save all this money.” 

Ms. Campolo wants to see the corporate tax structure redrawn to bring offshore money back to the United States. “I would like to see for six months to a year, zero tax on money being brought back,” and then have the corporate tax rate lowered.

As Mr. Trump solidifies his cabinet, Mr. Doran said people will have to “give the guy a little bit of time to get on the ground and get running.” He hopes the post-election divisiveness and anger coming from some on the left will subside. “My bigger hope is that Donald Trump offers them a reason to let it subside.”