Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to the media after meetings with Republicans on Capitol Hill at the National Republican Senatorial Committee headquarters in Washington, June 13, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
At a meeting with House Republicans on Thursday, former President Donald Trump called Milwaukee – host of the 2024 Republican National Convention – a “terrible” city and said it was overrun with crime.
The comments, first reported by Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman and confirmed by NBC News, drew criticism from Democrats, while Trump’s allies scrambled to defend his remarks.
The Trump campaign denied that he had called the city “horrible” and wrote in a press release that the reports were a “complete lie.” Yet the campaign still seemed to imply that Trump was making disparaging comments about the city.
“President Trump specifically referenced the problems in Milwaukee, particularly violent crime and voter fraud,” the campaign statement said.
Several Republican lawmakers also denied that he made those comments at the meeting at the Capitol Hill Club. The event took place just weeks before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the party will formally nominate Trump as its presidential candidate.
Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin responded to a post on X reporting Trump’s remark that Milwaukee was a “terrible” city.
“I was in the room. President Trump didn’t say that,” Steil said. “There’s no better place than Wisconsin in July.”
Other Republicans in Congress sought to explain and contextualize Trump’s comments rather than denying them. Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin wrote in a post
Wisconsin is a key battleground state that Trump narrowly lost to President Joe Biden in 2020.
While Milwaukee, its largest city, publicly welcomes the opportunity to host the RNC, the Democratic-led city has a shaky relationship with the Republican Party. CNBC reported June 6 that Milwaukee-based department store Kohl’s will not sponsor events related to the Republican National Convention.
Democrats were quick to exploit Trump’s comments.
In apparent response, Biden posted a photo on X from the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2021 visit to the White House with the caption: “I love Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, a Democrat, said: “If Donald Trump wants to talk about things he thinks are terrible, then we all lived through his presidency, so I’ll be right back, buddy.”
Garren Randolph, coordinated campaign manager for the Democrats in Wisconsin, said in a statement: “If Donald Trump thinks Milwaukee is so terrible, he should not come to our city.”
“Milwaukee voters are tired of Donald Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans not caring about them,” Randolph added. “We’ll see that at the RNC – and then again in November when Wisconsinites oust Donald Trump.”
A sign promoting Milwaukee as host of the 2024 Republican National Convention at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
It is unknown whether Trump will be in Milwaukee to accept his nomination at the convention.
The former president was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records and his sentencing is scheduled for July 11, a day before the start of the Republican National Convention.
Some Democrats pointed to Trump’s criminal conviction in their responses to his comments Thursday.
“Milwaukee makes the best beer, the best brats and the best motorcycles in the world,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., in a post on X. “It is home to some of our most vibrant communities, the hardest workers and is part of what makes Wisconsin the best state in the nation Donald Trump wouldn’t understand even if a jury told him.
Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Milwaukee, also noted his belief in her response.
“Once he settles in with his probation officer, he will surely find that Milwaukee is a wonderful, vibrant and welcoming city full of diverse neighborhoods and a thriving business community,” Moore wrote in a post on X.
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2024-06-14 01:43:50
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