Just days after Donald Trump declared Milwaukee "a horrible city" to his House Republican allies, the former president changed his language speaking with Wisconsin voters Tuesday, according to local WSLS 10 News.
"I love Milwaukee," the MAGA hopeful told a group of Racine, Wisconsin voters at an event proudly waving a "Wisconsin is Trump country" sign.
WSLS reports, Trump "denied having called Milwaukee 'horrible' during a closed-door meeting with Republican members of Congress in Washington last week, blaming 'radical left lunatics' who 'lie, lie, lie.'"
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According to CNN, the former president also said "it was his choice to have Milwaukee host the Republican National Convention" next month.
During an interview last week with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said that Trump "calling his city 'horrible' in a meeting earlier this week with Republicans in Congress may be what costs him not just the city, but the Badger State itself. He added that as the city with the highest concentration of Republican voters in the state, Trump could hurt turnout among his own base as well."
WSLS also notes, "Wisconsin is one of a handful of battleground states likely to determine this year’s presidential race. It was one of the so-called Democratic 'blue wall' states that Trump narrowly won in 2016, paving the way for his surprise victory. Biden flipped the state back in 2020, and both campaigns are targeting it heavily this year."
Johnson told Wallace, "In a place where tens of thousands of Republicans call home, to say that the place where they live is 'horrible,' I don't think that's a smart political move. And not just that. The former president is trying to make inroads with the African American community, more Black people live in the City of Milwaukee than any other place in the state of Wisconsin. So this is a very, very diverse city, and elections in this state are decided on a razor's edge."
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WSLS 10 News' full report is here. CNN's report is here.