Root canal. Food poisoning from a bad oyster. For the Hamptons beach set, there are only a few things worse than driving east on a Friday afternoon in August. Once you get to Southampton, it’s essentially one lane in and one lane out on Route 27. What is normally a two-plus-hour drive from Manhattan—depending on which Hampton you frequent—can quickly become a three-plus-hour adventure on a Friday.

Now add in a Friday evening political fundraiser for Donald Trump, whose recent assassination attempt prompted calls for increased security, and you’ve got enough gridlock to drive Hamptonites mad. On Friday, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick hosted the Bridgehampton event, which contributed to never-ending traffic from Riverhead to Amagansett that lasted late into the night, with reports of five-plus-hour journeys in from JFK and the city and even the backroads and residential streets being full of cars.

“I just never saw anything like it,” said Alison P., who works at a Bridgehampton salon and asked that her last name not be used. “I hope there’s some kind of investigation. This was dangerous.”

That’s because vehicles on main roads, side streets, highways, and everything in between were essentially parked at a dead stop, or inching toward a destination, for hours and hours.

When President Joe Biden visited the Hamptons in late June, his plane landed at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton. But Biden then took Marine One to East Hampton Airport, a short ride from where his fundraiser took place. However, while Trump landed in Westhampton too—at approximately 5:30 p.m.—his motorcade took him the 25-ish miles to Bridgehampton, where he arrived about an hour later.

“There was road rage and the big trucks driving on the wrong side of the road. It was a little scary,” Alison said. Still, as her usual 20-minute commute home turned into a nearly hour-and-a-half-long trip, she did the same, navigating her way on the shoulder of the opposite side of the road until she was close enough to ditch her car in a cul-de-sac and walk the rest of the way.

Riva Gruen and her husband left their Southampton Airbnb on Friday night for a 6 p.m. dinner reservation at nearby restaurant Cowfish. The map predicted a 10-minute drive, but they ended up arriving at 6:30 p.m. due to traffic. And after the couple had finished their dinner, they were faced with even worse congestion: Cars were just stopped, and there were no signs explaining the road closures, which subsequently left them with nowhere to go.

“It was just crazy,” Gruen said. “People were doing U-turns all over the place, thinking they could get around and go some other way—and there was literally no way to get through.” After trying “over and over” to get anywhere, they eventually asked a cop about the status. He directed them to a local dive bar, where they sat for some time, though they ultimately waited in the car for an hour in heavy rain after getting tired of the bar. They finally got home about two hours after finishing eating.

“I’m someone who does not like being stuck places. That’s a trigger point for me. Like, not moving, you can’t go anywhere—I don’t like that,” she said. Being Democrats, she added, made it all feel worse.

Others were excited about the ex-president’s visit. Trump fans lined the streets near the airport and surrounding area to cheer for the Republican presidential nominee as he came and went.

Some made plans to get errands done in the morning and then hunker down in order to avoid the Trump-fundraiser-induced traffic. One man who was walking his dog in the Village of East Hampton after the hoopla had died down said he wished he had known ahead of time that Trump was coming.

“I would have done a sign that said ‘Fuck Trump’ and [stood] on the side of the road and proudly displayed that.”

The Town of Southampton Police Department, whose jurisdiction is the area through which Trump traveled, issued an advisory ahead of Friday’s visit, warning of “extensive rolling road closures and heavy gridlock.” Signs were posted on roadways as well, but for security reasons, Trump’s travel details couldn’t be shared ahead of time.

“We can’t be specific because the route itself can’t be advertised,” said Captain Howard Kalb of the Town of Southampton Police Department. “It was a general ‘avoid being out east or traveling’ sign.”

Ensuring Trump had roads cleared and a “safety zone on both sides of him,” said Kalb, was a coordinated effort led by the New York State Police, given the size of the event, in conjunction with the Town of Southampton’s police and police from the towns and villages in affected areas along the way.

“We can’t have him stop,” Kalb said, noting that is standard procedure for a presidential candidate.

Kalb added that there were contingencies in place for emergency vehicles. Given the amount of traffic, issues continued well into the night, even though Trump was back at the airport around 9:40 p.m.

The timing of the visit didn’t help. The first Friday in August is already amongst the worst traffic days of the season. That’s usually turnover day—when monthly renters from July leave and new tenants move in for the month. Or those renting out their homes take their belongings and flee for calmer shores. Trump’s visit Friday contributed to the perfect gridlock storm.

Leaving the Hamptons is a colossal nightmare too, as contractors, plumbers, electricians, and others working on the never-ending estate renovations add to the bumper-to-bumper crawling journey west that locals have dubbed the “trade parade.”

And that fact—that it wasn’t only the fancy people heading to fancy homes to have fancy drinks who were most inconvenienced—upset many caught in the mess.

Alison said her friends, who are Trump supporters and didn’t get home to Manorville from work until 11 p.m. that night, thought it was inconsiderate of the candidate and his hosts, as working-class people trying to get home were the most inconvenienced.

Others thought it was a dig at the so-called left-wing elite who summer in the Hamptons.

One woman, who was driving from a work event in Amagansett to Bellport for a dinner being held in her honor, said Trump was absolutely sticking it to the people of the Hamptons.

“It was totally intentional,” she said.

She left work at 6:30 p.m. and got to Southampton by 8 p.m., but then she was directed by Google Maps onto a westbound road near Hampton Bays that was completely blocked. When she was able, she asked a police officer if she could turn around and was told no. In addition to dealing with the pain of the traffic, she was also incredibly uncomfortable, she said. She was surrounded by what appeared to be Trump fans in pickup trucks with flags who had gone to cheer on the former president.

By 11 p.m., desperate to pee and lacking a way to get out of the side road she’d landed herself on, she checked Google Maps one more time and spotted a motel to inch toward, eventually checking in and paying $400 for the night (this included a resort fee despite dirty pillows and sheets, a roach on the floor, and a decrepit bathroom she photographed). “I peeled back all the sheets and blankets, spread my dresses out, and slept in my robe,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I’d get out of there alive,” she added jokingly.

Maryann Campo also found herself stuck and concerned—her usually 45-minute drive from work in Bridgehampton to her home in Hampton Bays, which she began at 4:15 p.m. on Friday, turned into a nearly four-hour slog. Her dog, Peanut, was home alone, and her cell phone wasn’t working.

“I’m calling 911,” she said, explaining that she was hoping to get some information on when things would open up. “There was no cell service. I tried calling 911; 911 didn’t exist,” she continued. “What if I was sick? What if I was having a heart attack?” Her friend with multiple sclerosis was sick, she said, and stuck. He had to inch his way backward to Riverhead and find a gym in which to sit and rest while waiting out the traffic.

While stopped, Campo watched as other distressed drivers got out of their cars to go to the bathroom out in the open on people’s lawns. At one point she was able to walk five cars ahead of hers to borrow another driver’s phone to call her family and let them know she was okay. And she eventually made her way onto the opposite shoulder, stopping for rosé and a sandwich to help pass the time.

“I’ve been out here since 2001. I have never seen anything like this,” she said. “Trump and his people shut the Hamptons down.”