Politics

Trump’s rise made this guy a ‘center of attention’ in NYC

Fred Trump has been dining out on his name for years. Literally.

Fred Trump in front of Trump Tower in Midtown.Annie Wermiel

When the 73-year-old Manhattanite walked into Cafe Fiorello last weekend, the popular Italian restaurant across from Lincoln Center was packed with the post-theater crowd. But the retiree and his “lady friend” had no problem getting one of the best tables. “I said my name was Trump. They looked me up and down before leading us to a very good, quiet table,” he said.

Fred — who, despite sharing a first name with Donald Trump’s late father, is not a blood relation — has been snagging good tables via his gilded name since the early ’80s, when Donald was the poster boy for NYC money and power. Once, “I got a fantastic seat at Le Bernardin when my wealthy cousin from California visited and wanted to go to New York’s best restaurant,” said Fred. “I made the reservation under my name and we were very nicely escorted to a [table] where we were the center of attention.”

These days, with Donald in the White House, the Trump name may not exactly be beloved by all New Yorkers — but, Fred points out, “It still makes restaurant people perk up.”

Still, other non-relatives who share a moniker with the president see it as more of a burden than a boon.

Maxine Trump, a 45-year-old filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn, has made a five-minute documentary short “Trumps Against Trump,” that touches on the headache of her name and can be viewed on Facebook.

For her, it’s gotten to the point that “In my e-mail signature, I put ‘No relation,’ ” Maxine said. “What can be funny, though, is when I go to the post office and they ask if I am any relation. I respond, ‘Would I bring my own parcels here if I were?’ ”

‘Now liberal people meet me and have a physical reaction: They huff.’

Manhattan resident Peter Trump has started going by just his first and middle names, Peter Nicholas, to avoid getting into uncomfortable political conversations with new people he meets.

It doesn’t always work, though. Recently, while picking up a prescription at the drug store, he had to use his legal name. The pharmacist “sympathetically said, ‘Oh, that’s okay,’ ” recalled the public schools employee, 53. “Ten years ago, she would have said, ‘Lucky you.’ Or else she would have asked if Donald gives me money,” which he used to hear a lot.

Rusty Trump, a 34-year-old design manager, yearns for those good old days. “I used to enjoy having the last name because it is associated with money and success and power,” the Manhattanite admitted. “At the airport they used to ask why I wasn’t taking my uncle’s jet.’ Now liberal people meet me and have a physical reaction: They huff.”

His husband, Andy Tran, took the easy way out. “When we were getting our marriage license earlier this month, the clerk at City Hall asked Andy if he wanted to take my last name,” Rusty recalled. “He said no — and the woman laughed.”