Democrats pounce on Trump calling Milwaukee ‘horrible’

CNN —

Democrats are seizing on Donald Trump’s characterization of Milwaukee as a “horrible” city, attempting to make the former president pay politically for dissing the most populous part of a key swing state — and one that will host Republicans’ national convention in July.

“In a state that’s decided on a razor’s edge, that may ultimately cost Donald Trump the election,” Cavalier Johnson, the Democratic mayor of Wisconsin’s largest city, told CNN’s Laura Coates on Thursday night.

The Democratic National Committee said Friday it was launching 10 billboards across the city featuring Trump’s comments. President Joe Biden’s campaign immediately began selling T-shirts and stickers with images of Wisconsin, with Milwaukee’s location marked on them, and the words: “(Not) a Horrible City.”

The party’s top figures, meanwhile, took to social media to highlight the former president’s remarks, which were reportedly made during a closed-door meeting Thursday with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Biden posted a photo showing him holding a Milwaukee Bucks jersey alongside team members who visited the White House after winning the NBA championship in 2021.

“I happen to love Milwaukee,” Biden wrote.

And Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, wrote on social media: “Add it to the list of things Donald Trump is wrong about,” followed by a clown emoji.

As Trump was ranting about crime rates and so-called election integrity issues in his meeting with House Republicans on Thursday, the former president called Milwaukee “horrible,” according to a source in the room.

The Trump campaign pushed back on the characterization of his remarks.

“He never said it like how it’s been falsely characterized as. He was talking about