NY
Times - Four years ago, after
Joe Biden fell from a bike, Donald Trump made a pledge to the American people. “I will never, ever ride a bicycle,” he
declared.
The joke landed because Mr. Trump
is known to be more of a limo-and-golf-cart sort of guy. But more recently, his
administration has begun acting on its deep aversion to cycling, revoking
federal grants for what it calls “D.E.I. bike lanes.”
In a high-profile move earlier
this year, the administration even tried to remove a bike lane near the White
House.
Sean Duffy, Mr. Trump’s
transportation secretary, has argued that when bike lanes cut into space for
cars and trucks, the result is more congestion, “longer travel times and wasted
fuel.” But Mr. Duffy and his colleagues have also deployed rhetoric that
suggests the bicycle is hopelessly lefty, belonging in the same category as
green-haired baristas, Rosie O’Donnell and yard signs professing that love is
love.
….Whether this strategy pays off
politically remains to be seen. A 2025 YouGov poll showed that 76 percent of
Americans supported bike lanes in and around where they live, including 66
percent of Republicans. But it also showed that only a third of Americans are
pining for more.
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