Democrats are using former President Donald Trump’s reported recent trashing of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during a meeting in Washington, D.C., with elected Republicans against him.
In a gathering in the nation’s capital, Trump, who is currently on his way to Republicans’ presidential nomination for this year’s election, reportedly referred to Milwaukee as a “horrible” place, though forces in his political corner have come out with a slew of explanations meant to discredit the interpretation of Trump attacking the city itself. Though these explanations have diverged — sometimes drastically, Trump’s supporters have cited crime and claimed election fraud among their attempts at explanation.
Well, Democrats subsequently developed a plan to put Trump’s reported comments on 10 billboards across Milwaukee itself. The billboards were set to be activated on Friday, marking a quick turnaround.
Though the area in particular is a Democratic stronghold, incumbent President Joe Biden — who’s set for a rematch with Trump this year — won Wisconsin as a whole by only narrow margins in the 2020 election. The way that presidential elections work means that increased voter turnout in an already heavily Democratic area of a given state can help swing the state as a whole, potentially solidifying it in the Democrats’ column.
“The dislike is mutual – in 2020, Wisconsin handed Trump a one way ticket back to exile in Mar-a-Lago and sent President Biden to the Oval Office,” said a communications official with the Democratic National Committee (DNC), as reported by the outlet Axios. Trump also faced pushback from Democrats who represent Wisconsin in the House and Senate, among others.
Republicans are set to host their nominating convention in Milwaukee next month — just after Trump’s sentencing in a New York City criminal case where he was recently found guilty on all counts. Prosecutors accused him of the felony falsification of business records connected to pre-2016 election hush money for a woman named Stormy Daniels.
