Donald Trump causes uproar by calling Milwaukee a 'horrible city' in crucial swing state Wisconsin that 'could cost him the election'

Donald Trump has outraged Milwaukee locals by calling it 'a horrible city' weeks before it hosts the Republican National Convention.

The former president insulted Wisconsin's biggest city at a closed-door meeting of Republican leaders on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning.

'Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city,' he said, according to numerous people who were there.

Republican lawmakers first claimed Trump never said it, but later admitted he did but insisted he was only referring to its crime rate, or to supposed election fraud.

Trump frequently denounces Democratic-led cities as unsafe — even as violent crime decreased nationally in the most recent FBI statistics — and repeats falsehoods about his loss in the 2020 election.

Donald Trump has outraged Milwaukee locals by calling it 'a horrible city' weeks before the Republican National Convention is held there

Democrats are making hay out of Trump's gaffe by designing this billboard to put up in the city

Trump's opponents were quick to pounce, and Democrats started putting 10 billboards around Milwaukee denouncing Trump's comments.

The billboards will go up on I-94, I-41 and I-43 featuring his quote and an unflattering photo of the convicted felon.

Milwaukee is hosting the RNC July 15 to 17 and is the largest Democratic stronghold in swing-state Wisconsin, which Biden won by only 21,000 votes in 2020. 

The city's mayor, Cavalier Johnson, held a press conference denouncing Trump's insult and strongly defending Milwaukee.

'If Donald Trump wants to talk about things that he thinks are horrible, all of us lived through his presidency, so right back at you buddy,' he said.

Johnson later claimed the remark could cost Trump the election as winning the rust belt he lost in 2020 was crucial.

'This is a great place, and the former president and every Republican who'll have the chance to come to our great city, they'll see that when they're here on the ground in Milwaukee for the convention,' he told CNN. 

'In a state that's decided on a razor's edge, that may ultimately cost Donald Trump the election.

'If he thinks that cities are horrible, then we should work in this city and cities all across the country to make sure that he doesn't have to live in another city that he probably thinks is horrible as well - and that's Washington DC.'

The city's mayor, Cavalier Johnson, held a press conference denouncing Trump's insult and strongly defending Milwaukee

Trump's opponents were quick to pounce, and Democrats started putting up 10 billboards around Milwaukee denouncing Trump's comments

Milwaukee locals weren't happy either, flooding social media with comments defending their city and mocking Trump.

'Kids playing in the street, birds chirping, dogs and cats living in harmony? Milwaukee is horrible!' one wrote with a video of a street in the city.

Another wrote: 'I was born and raised in Milwaukee. Everything I have, and everything I am starts in Milwaukee. I'm proud of my tough little city.

'If you don't like it you definitely do not have to come here, because we've shown you soon to be three times We don't want you.'

Even legendary author Stephen King joined in: 'Milwaukee is actually quite a nice place. Trump thinks it's horrible because HE'S horrible.'

Others spoke to local news outlets about Trump's comment, as they prepare to host the huge convention. 

'He's coming here in a couple of weeks. So, I think it takes an awful lot of ignorance to say something that negative before he's coming if he really thinks he should be president,' Beth Dorsey told TMJ4.

Lynden Johnson added: 'I love this part of the world. It has made me a large part of who I am today and for somebody to say this is a horrible city, it's 100 per cent not true. It's not a horrible city; it's a wonderful city.'  

President Joe Biden posted a photo on Twitter of himself greeting the Milwaukee Bucks after their 2021 NBA championship with the message: 'I happen to love Milwaukee.'

Another billboard with the alternate design showing a tweet by Punchbowl News writer Jake Sherman, who was first to report the remark on Twitter

President Joe Biden posted a photo on Twitter of himself greeting the Milwaukee Bucks after their 2021 NBA championship with the message: 'I happen to love Milwaukee'

Congresswoman Gwen Moore, a Democrat who represents and lives in Milwaukee, made a nod to Trump's recent felony convictions in her response.

'Once he's settled in with his parole officer, I am certain he will discover that Milwaukee is a wonderful, vibrant and welcoming city full of diverse neighborhoods and a thriving business community,' she posted on Twitter.

Moore later added in an MSNBC interview: 'I don't know many people in Milwaukee who have 34 felony counts against them. So our crime rate is going to go up when he joins us in Milwaukee.'

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in New York on July 11, days before the convention begins. 

Democratic US Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is up for reelection this year, also mocked Trump's criminal conviction.

'Milwaukee makes the greatest beer, brats, and motorcycles in the world. It's home to some of our most vibrant communities, hardest workers, and is a part of what makes Wisconsin the best state in the nation,' she wrote.

'Donald Trump wouldn’t understand even if a jury told him so.'

Local and statewide Democratic leaders, including Governor Tony Evers, worked with Republicans to land the convention this summer.

Evers, in response to Trump's comment, wrote: 'Add it to the list of things Donald Trump is wrong about.' He followed it with an emoji of a clown face.

Milwaukee was supposed to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, but that was moved almost entirely online because of the Covid pandemic.  

Trump is scheduled to be in Racine, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally on Tuesday, just three weeks before heading to Milwaukee for the convention.

Trump is scheduled to be in Racine, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally on Tuesday, just three weeks before heading to Milwaukee for the convention

Republican Congressman Bryan Steil, who represents southeast Wisconsin, disputed that Trump made the comment.

'I was in the room,' Steil posted on Twitter. 'President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July.'

However, several congressmen who support Trump and attended the meeting admitted he said it, but argued he wasn't disparaging its residents.

But few of them can agree on exactly what he meant, and gave different explanations on social media and in interviews. 

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed the reported remark was 'wrong. Total bulls**t'.

'He never said it like how it’s been falsely characterized as. He was talking about how terrible crime and voter fraud are,' she wrote.

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, from New York, claimed Trump was responding to her question about supposed voter fraud.

'President Trump was responding directly to my question about the lack of ELECTION INTEGRITY by election officials in certain US cities including Milwaukee,' she wrote on Twitter.

Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 14, 2020

'President Trump made no derogatory remarks about the great citizens and communities in those cities.

'Much like New Yorkers, Wisconsinites are fed up with violent crime and rampant voter fraud.'

Claims of voter fraud in Wisconsin, and other states Trump narrowly lost, have been thoroughly debunked, but some Republicans continue to make the false claim.

Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin, said Trump was talking about the 'terrible or horrible' crime rate in the city.

'He was directly referring to crime in Milwaukee,' he said, adding Republicans in the room concurred: 'They're like, yeah, crime is terrible.'

Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, also from Wisconsin, told WISN-TV in Milwaukee that Trump was referring to election integrity.

'That's where the comment came from, that Milwaukee's just terrible,' Fitzgerald said. 'What he was talking about was the elections in Milwaukee, their concerns about them.'

Milwaukee is hosting the RNC July 15 to 17 and is the largest Democratic stronghold in swing-state Wisconsin, which Biden won by only 21,000 votes in 2020

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who represents northern Wisconsin, said he never heard Trump call Milwaukee a 'horrible city.'

'What I heard is to make sure there's election integrity in Milwaukee,' Tiffany said in a telephone interview. 

'He's talking about the states that are in play and the states of greatest importance and Wisconsin is top of the list.'

Republican Congressman Jim Banks, of Indiana, said he was also in the room and 'Trump never disparaged Milwaukee.'

'Just another Democrat hoax,' Banks posted on Twitter.

A Trump aide and two attorneys who advised him in 2020 were charged with felonies last week in Wisconsin for their roles in a scheme to get Republicans to cast Wisconsin's electoral ballots to Trump even though he lost the state.

Government and outside investigations have uniformly found there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could have swung the 2020 election. 

But Trump has continued to spread falsehoods about the election, particularly in Wisconsin.