EXTRA: Trump reaches out to Chicago of the past in brief city stopover

You don’t hear it said quite as often as it used to be; that Chicago has more Polish people living here than anywhere else except for Warsaw.
 

The voters Trump tried appealing to Wednesday

So perhaps it would take a presidential candidate whose campaign theme is to look to the past out of the belief that is where “greatness” for our country can be found to acknowledge the old days when Milwaukee Avenue was the cultural center of Polish-oriented neighborhoods where one could live out an entire life without ever needing to know English.

IT’S STILL POSSIBLE to get by without English in many ethnic-oriented parts of the city, although Polish is no longer the language of choice in those parts of Chicago.

All this is to say that Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who has made a point of singling out Chicago and the crime statistics for his rhetorical abuse, dared to set foot within the city limits.

While campaigning in Iowa and Wisconsin on Wednesday, he added in a surprise morning visit to the Polish National Alliance offices up on Cicero Avenue. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that he met with various Polish-American local organizations – commiserating with them as they adjust to a changing world in which they’re merely one of many ethnic interests in this city.

No, Trump wasn’t in the heart of Chicago/ Those offices are only a couple of blocks from the city limits near suburban Lincolnwood. Some might argue the area is more suburban-feel than city.

IT DOESN’T CHANGE my basic premise that Trump wouldn’t dare to set foot anywhere else in Chicago, and most likely isn’t the least bit concerned about such places.

One vote Trump won't get

They don’t fit his limited view of what the world ought to be like – one in which women don’t let themselves get all bloated and fat like that Miss Universe candidate he has feuded with throughout his campaign.

But I don’t doubt that Trump will view his visit as himself having the nerve to set foot in the heart of the very beast itself. Before he went off to the suburbs proper for a Bolingbrook appearance with people inclined to pull out their checkbooks and give him campaign contributions.

Then off to Iowa and Wisconsin, where Trump can actually dream he has a chance of winning Electoral College votes in his Quixotic campaign to resurrect a national greatness that most likely would be best preserved if we were to send him off packing past Nov. 8.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Alicia, an aspiring actress, has since become a U.S. citizen. Which gives her a vote on Election Day -- one that I'm sure she will put to use against Trump, who can't accept the fact she no longer looks the same as she did when she won his pageant some 20 years ago.