Trump insulted Milwaukee and then things got weird

• Donald Trump reportedly called Milwaukee a “terrible city.”

• The former president will be formally crowned the Republican Party’s presidential candidate there in July.

• Republicans offered several explanations for Trump’s reported comment.

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday reportedly insulted Milwaukee, the site of the Republican National Convention in just a few weeks.

“Milwaukee, where we have our convention, is a terrible city,” Trump told House Republicans during their closed-door meeting, according to PunchBowl News.

The strangest thing wasn’t even Trump’s reported insult to the city whose name is a translation of “The Good Land,” as Alice Cooper once helpfully taught us. Rather, it was the seemingly contradictory ways in which Republicans tried to deny or clarify Trump’s comment.

“I was in the room. President Trump did not say this,” Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin wrote on X, quoting the initial tweet from PunchBowl reporter Jake Sherman. “There’s no better place than Wisconsin in July.”

Steil later told a local TV station that Trump was “not talking about the city, but about specific issues in the city.”

“We had a broad conversation about the challenges we face as a country, particularly the challenges we’ve seen in Milwaukee,” Steil said, mentioning issues with elections, crime and public schools.

A spokesperson for Steil later told Business Insider that since no one was taking notes, it was not clear whether Trump said “Milwaukee” and “terrible” side by side.

“He’s not saying Milwaukee itself is terrible,” the spokesperson said. “He said the crime and election integrity issues facing the city are appalling.”

A spokesperson for the convention told a local TV station that Trump discussed concerns about the security perimeter for the convention, which has been the subject of frustration from the Republican Party over whether protests can take place in a park close to the main convention arena.

Both parties have historically hosted their conventions in cities or states that may have different politics than their own. This is especially true for the Republicans, who have organized their conventions in cities like New York. Local officials are known for playing nice to reel in the big business and spotlight that comes with hosting one of the two major political parties while formally nominating their presidential candidate.

Trump’s reported insult quickly landed in Wisconsin, where local reporters jumped on the story. The former president’s campaign disputed the report.

“Wrong. Total nonsense,” spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote on X, quoting Sherman’s initial tweet. “He never said it in the way it’s been wrongly characterized. He talked about how terrible crime and voter fraud are.”

Sherman has stuck to his reporting. “Trump absolutely said it – without a doubt,” he later wrote on X. “People hear what they want. This is known to anyone who has reported on Trump or Trump-related stories in the past decade.”

Democrats and the Biden campaign were quick to defend the largest city in a key swing state. Democrats were originally set to host their 2020 convention in Milwaukee before the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to switch to a largely virtual event.

“Once he settles in with his probation officer, I am confident he will discover that Milwaukee is a beautiful, vibrant and welcoming city, full of diverse neighborhoods and a thriving business community,” said Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, whose district includes covers most of Milwaukee. , wrote on X.

Biden’s own story matched an old photo of him celebrating Milwaukee Buck’s 2021 NBA championship at the White House.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson took his own shot at Trump.

“Well, if Donald Trump wants to talk about things he thinks are terrible, we all lived through his presidency, so right back to you, buddy.”

Read the original article on Business Insider