The finger pointers began coming to Trump Tower in 2004. Donald Trump was making the transition from property mogul to TV celebrity in The Apprentice, and fans would head to his iconic skyscraper on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. There they would point an index finger at the 58-storey tower (where the top floor is labelled 68) and shout his catchphrase, ‘You’re fired.’
Fast forward twelve years to America’s most polarising and bitter election and the pointers are still coming. It’s just that the proffered finger is no longer the index and the sentiment is rather less good-natured. Stand on the pavement outside the golden entrance to 725 Fifth Avenue – where protesters and supporters now operate a daily circus – and it doesn’t take long to spot a middle-finger salute.
On a recent afternoon, Michael Karimian, 31, paused briefly among the throng. He slipped his phone from his pocket with his left hand, before offering that most American of gestures with his right. He was on his way before the uniformed police officers stationed at the doors could spot him (not, you suspect, that they would care) with a snap that would be on Facebook by the end of the day.
Karimian, a Brit living in Paris after years spent in New York, said he was watching the US election with alarm from overseas.
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