Milton Street Is No Longer a Trump Supporter

Photo by Dan McQuade

Before he’d even won a vote in the Republican presidential primaries, Donald Trump held a rally in Virginia last December. There, he met Milton Street, and his daughter, Renee Street Toppin. Trump called Milton Street a “highly respected, great man in Philadelphia,” and said he had accepted Milton’s offer to give Trump a tour of impoverished parts of Philadelphia.

That never happened. And now, with Trump the Republican nominee and just 17 days to go before the election, Street has dropped his support. As Clout reported today, Milton Street has now endorsed Hillary Clinton.

“I think it’s a damn shame that we’re in America and the only thing we have to choose from is Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,” Street told the Daily News. “It’s just depressing. … Tell people I’m no longer a Donald Trump supporter.” Street said he stopped backing Trump when he realized the candidate “was 23 cans short of a full case.”

Sure. But let’s also look at what happened when Trump made his first public visit to Philadelphia as a candidate in the general election in early September. Toppin showed up outside Trump’s private event at the Greater Exodus Baptist Church. When she was denied entrance to it, she dramatically ripped up a letter from the Trump campaign in front of TV cameras, and also denounced his candidacy as “a scam.”

Renee Street Toppin, once a Trump supporter, has turned on him. “It’s a scam,” she says of today’s rally. pic.twitter.com/Uyd0fiqFFN

— Dan McQuade (@dhm) September 2, 2016

Would Milton still be supporting the candidate if his family had just been invited into Trump’s inner circle? Perhaps you can grill Milton Street about his past support for Trump when you take an Uber, as the former mayor’s brother is also driving for the company. If you get “Tom” — his legal name is Thomas Milton Street — he might be driving for you.

Brian Hickey first reported the tale of Maureen Garrity’s Uber ride earlier this week. She was Sam Katz’s spokeswoman in his failed 2003 mayoral bid (one he might’ve won had he proposed legalizing marijuana). She realized her driver was the brother of Katz’s opponent, John Street, when … well, when Street told her at the end of their ride.

Street told Philly Voice he became an Uber driver to make some extra cash: “If I have a couple free hours, I head out to make a few bucks. There’s no boss. You’re totally free as a bird.” (Other people I know have had less favorable experiences with Uber.)

This has been your Fall 2016 Milton Street update. Who knows what next year will bring!

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