Democrats are up in arms after Donald Trump reportedly called Milwaukee, the host city for the Republican Party’s national convention, “a terrible city” during a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“Add it to the list of things Donald Trump is wrong about,” wrote Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers on X, in a post with a clown emoji.
Evers was one of several Wisconsin Democrats who immediately pushed back on the former president’s comments, even as they have largely avoided public confrontations with Republicans preparing to take over the Wisconsin city for the presidential nominating convention in July.
Reporters reported on Trump’s comments after he met with lawmakers behind closed doors in Washington DC on Thursday. Trump addressed a range of topics, including abortion and tariffs. But it was his comment about the host city of his conference that seemed to provoke the most furious reactions.
“Milwaukee, where we have our convention, is a terrible city,” the former president said, according to Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman.
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), who represents the congressional district that includes Milwaukee, posted on is. full of diverse neighborhoods and a thriving business community.”
Moore was referring to Trump’s meeting with a probation officer on Monday in connection with his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying company records to cover up monetary payments to a porn star. His sentencing date is July 11, just four days before the Republican convention begins.
Some Republican lawmakers said Trump’s comments about the Wisconsin city were taken out of context. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) told reporters that Trump was talking about “election integrity” in major urban centers, while Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) said he was talking about crime in the city, according to the Wisconsin Examiner.
A Trump campaign spokesman called Sherman’s post “wrong and ‘complete nonsense’.”
“He never said it in the way it’s been wrongly characterized,” Steven Cheung replied to X. “He was talking about how terrible crime and voter fraud are.”
The Trump campaign also sent an email calling the reporting “FAKE NEWS.”
And even Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who has embraced the Republican convention for the economic boom it will bring to the city, pushed back on Trump’s reported comment.
“Donald Trump was talking about terrible things,” the Democratic mayor said as he addressed Trump’s comments at an unrelated news conference on Thursday. “We all experienced his presidency. So right back to you, friend.
