Nevertheless, until recently, there was a general sense that New Yorkers were, if not effete, then at least not “one of us.” But that stereotype has changed and evolved. I suspect, like everything else, the evolution was years in the making. My gut is that Fox News helped normalize New York-ness to the rest of the geographically conservative world. If The Cosby Show and Will & Grace could change attitudes by bringing people we might never otherwise associate with (in this case, an African-American doctor and lawyer—and two gay men) into our living rooms, then why wouldn’t exposing red-state conservatives to 24 hours of right-wing New Yorkers also have a subconscious impact?
Not only were there a disproportionate number of populist New Yorkers suddenly brought into our homes, but it seemed like people with a New York mentality—from Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly and Jeanine Pirro to Eric Bolling (by way of Illinois)—were predisposed to like Donald Trump. This predisposition was also true of other prominent opinion leaders like Larry Kudlow (who lives in Connecticut, by way of New Jersey).
The New York state of mind, of course, is as much a general mindset as a specific geographical location. An attitude. New Yorkers are loud, brash, confident, and opinionated.
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