Donald Trump made a brazen bid for support in the vital swing state of Wisconsin on Tuesday, declaring his affection for its largest population center, Milwaukee, just days after denigrating it as “a horrible city.”
Needing to explain his own words to a city that will host the Republican national convention next month, the former president predictably chose to confront the issue head-on at a campaign rally in neighboring Racine, about 30 miles from Milwaukee, along the shores of Lake Michigan.
“I love Milwaukee. I was the one who chose Milwaukee,” he said in his opening remarks to an enthusiastic crowd at Racine’s outdoor festival park.
“These lying people who say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t like Milwaukee.’ I love Milwaukee. I said: You have to fix the crime. But I’m the one who chose Milwaukee and the Democrats, or the radical left lunatics as I call them, what they say is just terrible. They lie, lie, lie.
His conciliatory message to Milwaukee reflected his campaign’s sensitivity to the potential electoral cost of last week’s comments at a meeting with congressional Republicans at the U.S. Capitol, Trump’s first visit since the Jan. 6 attack by a mob trying to reverse his defeat in the presidential election to Joe Biden. .
Related: Democrats seize on Trump’s ‘horrible city’ comment about Milwaukee for ads
Republican lawmakers and strategists scrambled to downplay or contextualize the unflattering comments, originally reported on the website Punchbowl, which were all the more embarrassing because Milwaukee will host the party’s national convention starting July 15.
Democrats seized on the comments with an ad campaign that included a billboard placed near the site of Tuesday’s rally that read: “Want to know what ‘horrible’ really is? Donald Trump for Wisconsin’s economy.”
Ten billboards are being placed around Milwaukee publicizing the negative portrayal of Trump in the run-up to the convention, which will see Trump once again nominated as the Republican presidential candidate.
Tuesday’s rally was also Trump’s first visit to Wisconsin since his conviction last month by a New York court on 34 felony counts of falsifying documents to conceal secret payments made before the 2016 presidential election to a television star. adult cinema who testified to having sex with him.
The conviction was another focal point for a $50 million Democratic advertising offensive in Wisconsin and other battleground states throughout June. A 30-second ad that began airing on Monday focused on Trump’s criminal status, in an attempt to negatively compare his character with that of the president.
The competitive message between the two sides reflects the key battleground status gained by Wisconsin – which Trump narrowly won in his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, but which Biden won by around 21,000 votes in 2020.
A RealClearPolitics poll this week showed Biden posting a 39.3% approval rating in Wisconsin, with 55.7% disapproving.
Trump and Biden are neck and neck in most national polls, with Trump showing leads in several swing states.
