New York Magazine - USA (2019-11-11)

42 newyork| november11–24, 2019

We’llHavetheOpportunityto

Designa Post-CarCity

THEBQEmaybeincriticalcondition,butsoon

enoughwe’regoingtohavetofigureoutwhat to

doabouttheFDRDrive,too.It ’s nearlyasold,

andtheEastRiverpilingsonwhichmuchofit

standsare notgoingtolast forever.(They’re

wooden,foronething.Agenerationago,the

riverwassofoulthatmarineborerscouldnot

surviveinit,butthewateris cleanernowandthe

wormsandvariousothergribbleshavereturned.)

AfterSanFrancisco’sbilevelEmbarcaderoFree-

wayalongtheharborbroke downina 1989

earthquake, it wasremovedinfavorofa surface-

levelboulevardaugmentedwithtrolley linesand

bikelanes,inspiredinpart byNewYork’sWest

Sideexperience.Andwhat happened?Thegra-

ciousoldFerry Buildingonthewater,whichfor-

merly hadthehighway cuttingacrossand

obscuringitsface,camebackintoview,and

becamea highlysuccessfulfoodhall.Tr eesand

grassreplacedsomeof theoldon-andoff-ramps’

right-of-way. Thenew waterfrontroadis stillcar-

friendly, butit’s notutterlycar-dominated;it’s

linedwithnewbuildingsandstorestowhich

peoplecanwalk.There is 51percentmore hous-

ingintheareathanthere wasbefore.bartrider-

shipintheareawentup 15 percent.Someofthe

automobiletrafficfromthehighwaywas,infact,

absorbedintothelocalstreets—exceptforthe

significantnumberofcartripsthat simplywere

notmade.“T rafficshrinkage”is thetermofart

forthis. —CHRISTOPHERBONANOS

TrumpWillRuinHistory

ONEDAYIN2029,formerPresidentDonald

Trump—now 83 years old, pushing 300

pounds,almostentirelyconfinedtohisFlorida

home,butmiraculouslystillalive—willnoticea

friendly historian fromLiberty University

appearingona morningshowonFox News.

Theguest willsay somethingniceaboutTrump’s

timeinoffice,arguingthat despitehislackof

appreciationfromtheliberalhistoricalEstab-

lishment,the45thpresidentfosteredpeaceand

prosperityandgaveworking-classAmericansa

renewedsenseofnationalpride.Trumpwill

senda tweet quotingthepraiseanddenounce

the“corrupt,lying” historianswhohaverated

himoneoftheworstexecutivesevertooccupy

theoffice.

Ofcourseallofthiswillhappen.Eventhe

mostbuffoonishorcriminaloftheformer

presidentscaneventuallyberenderedstates-

manlikebythesoft-yellowglowofhistorical

memory—especiallywhenhispartymarches

furtherintoextremismeveryelectioncycle.It

is easytoimaginethatTrump,too,willoneday

be seen as—well, not bold or farsighted but

perhaps merely amusing, even harmless.

But only by part of America—his part. When

the rest of the country assesses Trump, it will

become obvious he will join a rogues’ gallery of

historical villains, the unlucky exceptions to the

normalization process. There is in Trump a bit of

Andrew Johnson, who was impeached, tempera-

mentally unfit, and notably racist even by the

standards of his day. There is also a sprinkling of

Joe McCarthy, an uncontrollably mendacious

demagogue who briefly electrified the conserva-

tivegrassrootsandintimidatedtheRepublican

leadership into acquiescence, and some Richard

Nixon, who respected no limits to his authority.

For most of the 20th century, American his-

tory was dominated by an assumption of consen-

sus. The polarization of the modern era has

stripped away that illusion or at least rendered it

obsolete. Whatever our future holds, we will

probably not arrive there on a common journey,

with a common understanding of the past. The

conservative movement has already cultivated its

own network of alt-universities, as divorced from

their traditional tweedy counterparts as Fox

News is from the broadcast networks. Hillsdale,

Liberty, Bob Jones, Patrick Henry College, and

other temples of conservative Christian higher

learning will surely develop a historical analysis

that places Trump on their own Mount Rush-

more alongside Reagan, George W. Bush, Calvin

Coolidge, and Andrew Jackson.

America is headed to a world of everything

splitting into red and blue pairs: red and blue

news, culture, neighborhoods, sports teams.

What we currently think of as “history” will

eventually be seen as blue America’s history. It

will scorn Trump. But red America’s history will

lionize him. Part of Trump’s legacy will be that

the very notion of a singular presidential stan-

dard against which he can be judged will come

to seem naïve and quaint. —JONATHAN CHAIT

IRL Retail Will Live Only Inside

Amusement Parks

IT WAS NOT so very many years ago that an

artificial intelligence invaded American homes.

Once engaged, it barked orders—provided you

had supplied it with batteries (not included).

“Attention, mall shoppers,” it told its helpless ser-

vants. “Sale at the shoe store! Sale at the fashion

boutique! Clearance at the sunglass boutique!”

It was Mall Madness, Milton Bradley’s board-

game diagnosis of a national fever. We had con-

tracted mall madness. The nerve center of teen-

age life was the shopping mall, a meet-cute and

merch paradise.

That was then. The interceding 30 years have

not been kind to the shopping mall, strafed as it

APR 14

The longtime

opening date

for the

American

Dream mall.

After many

delays, it

finally opens

in October.

PHOTOGRAPH: AMERICAN DREAM

APR 03

In Brooklyn
Heights,
hundreds of
residents
assemble to
argue over
the demolition
of the aging,
outmoded
Brooklyn-
Queens
Expressway.

APR 12

The president
announces
he’s consider-
ing releasing
imprisoned
undocu-
mented immi-
grants into
sanctuary
cities to spite
their liberal
mayors.