How to Start Thinking About What a Trump Presidency Means for Cities

We know that many of the president-elect’s big policy moves are likely to have a ripple effect in America’s cities, including immigration, health care, global trade, criminal justice, and gun control. But let’s take a look at something more nuts and bolts: the day-to-day business of municipal fiscal health, as it relates to the provision of basic services, infrastructure, and housing.

Few would guess that Donald Trump, despite being a New Yorker, is likely to be a champion of cities—for one thing, the rural vote that appears to have propelled him to office outmatched returns out of traditionally Democratic places such as Detroit or Philadelphia. Nor did Trump ever get down to policy specifics about cities; it’s not like he ever threw around terms such as Community Development Block Grants.