Trump? Clinton? Neither? What Philly workers say

"Democrats think making laws solves things, but people will get around them [the laws] like water around a rock," says Kyle Doebler of Manayunk, whose Windows Done Right crew was up on ladders at a house near 20th and Bainbridge.

He was one of the bearded, tool-belted, working-with-their-hands-in-90-degree-heat, "hardworking, middle-class" men who were much discussed inside the Democratic and Republican conventions.

I chatted up maybe 20 of these workers who were too busy making Philadelphia housing great again to attend conventions. They were the picture of political diversity.

A small-business owner, Doebler is socially liberal but leans right fiscally and wants government to, "stay out of our way." He's having an "inner battle" over the candidates because, while he would trust Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton on business matters, he doesn't like either candidate. He considers himself a Libertarian.

I found a different take around the corner, on Fitzwater.

"Hillary Clinton will thankfully be elected because the people of this country will listen to their better angels," Dan DeLeon, a carpenter from South Philly, told me. Trump, he said, gives him "a headache."

His sidekick, Andy Rodriguez, concurred. He voted for Bernie Sanders, "I feel him!" he said. But he will vote for Clinton. His take on Trump was straightforward, "He's a clown and his wife is a gold digger."

A few blocks away, Caelean Butler of Glen Mills, took a break from pointing bricks to say that he voted for John Kasich in the primary. He said the choice in the general election "scares" him.

While he thinks Trump could get business back again, he feels the GOP nominee "screwed" his workers and is wrong on immigration. Butler's family masonry and stucco business, Damien Construction, was started by his Irish-immigrant parents.

But Butler dismisses the alternative. "Hillary's bad," he said.

At a high-rise job closer to Center City, Fred Mari from the Glaziers Local 252 panned Trump, saying he wants the whole country to be "right to work" but worries about Clinton's polling numbers.

He should. Several yards away, a member from the Roofers Local 3 shop snorted, "They're both jokes!" And, "They're liars taking money from Wall Street." And, "Can we bring Reagan back?"

Three of the seven in their group said they wouldn't vote at all.

Dominic Mambu, a member of Laborers Local 57 who was smoothing freshly poured cement at a construction site on 21st and Annin Streets claimed to be "practically a socialist."

Mambu was a "Bernie supporter, big-time." But he is supporting Clinton now, "as long as the Democrats stay progressive."

"We can't have someone like Trump," he said. "I want to make sure my kids have a good world to grow up in."

The driver of the cement truck leaned out the door and yelled, "Go, Trump! Trump's the best!" and headed away down Annin Street.

Signe Wilkinson is editorial cartoonist for the Inquirer and Daily News.

signe@signetoons

@wilkins