After former President Donald Trump was reported as telling a roomful of Republican lawmakers that Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a "horrible city," Republicans went into overdrive alternatively defending his comments and denying that he said them altogether.
One of the most forceful reactions came from Trump's controversial spokesman, Steven Cheung, who posted on X in response to Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman confirming the former president "absolutely" made the remarks.
"Wrong. Total bulls---" wrote Cheung. "He never said it like how it’s been falsely characterized as. He was talking about how terrible crime and voter fraud are."
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Many commenters on social media leapt to mock Cheung by pointing out that his explanation, in fact, confirms Trump did say what Cheung is denying he said.
"Oh, so he didn’t say it’s a horrible city, he just said it’s a horrible city," wrote Brooklyn-based attorney Damin Toell.
"Thanks for admitting he said it then, Steven! Much appreciated," wrote the account @4thGenBruin.
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Other commenters pointed out that Cheung's stated reasons Trump is criticizing Milwaukee, where the Republican National Committee will be holding their convention to formally nominate Trump for president later this summer, don't even make sense in the first place.
"Trump spox's best defense of Trump insulting the city where the RNC is hosting their convention is that the city where they're hosting the convention is full of crime and voter fraud," wrote journalist Zaid Jilani.
"Under Joe Biden, homicides are down 42% in Milwaukee from 2 years ago," wrote the pro-Biden account @What46HasDone.
"'Voter fraud.' The malicious incompetence and ridiculous delusions you clowns relentlessly spew would be comical if it weren't such a national security threat," wrote the account @JoeLATrib.
And still others mocked the fact that Trump's associates and allies can't even get their explanations coordinated.
"This is the 9th version of the story. Jason Miller has tweeted two times that he didn’t say it all," wrote the account @cturnbull1968.
"He said it. Own it. The fact there are no less than 4 completely different spin jobs going around on what he meant is proof the cleanup panic scramble is on," wrote the account @JBellSATX.
"The widespread panic coming out of the GOP on my twitter feed right now indicates that, yeah... he did say it. And, you all know most Americans can absolutely believe he'd say something like that," wrote the account @SnarkyLibruhl.
