Speaking at Sioux City, Iowa, The Donald declared, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” The context of the statement was a discussion of how loyal Trump’s voters are, compared to Ted Cruz’s supposedly soft support.
Could Trump be right? Toronto offers interesting evidence. Back in October of 2010, Doug Ford made similar comments about his brother Rob, then running for mayor: “Every single day I knock on doors and I tell Rob—they know you, they love you. Rob could commit murder on the steps of City Hall and they would still vote for him.” Rob Ford went on to become mayor of Toronto. He never did commit murder in broad daylight but did, infamously, get caught on tape smoking crack while making racists and sexist comments. A large chunk of his political base stuck with him. A cancer scare led Ford to drop out of his re-election campaign in 2014 but he did win a seat as city counsellor.
The Ford example leads to the obvious conclusion that Trump’s instincts are sound, and that the citizens of New York should stay away from Fifth Avenue.