Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with congressional Republicans. It was his first trip there since the January 6 insurrection.
While there, he received plaudits from his now loyal supporters including some who used to be his severe critics. The former president also discussed his policy positions and shared reflections on a variety of subjects, including the likelihood that Taylor Swift will support him. And, according to the New York Times, Trump “falsely claimed that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter once told him that he and her mother might have been a good match.”
Some of those who heard Trump’s remarks reported that he made disparaging remarks about the city of Milwaukee, where the Republican Party will have its National Convention in July. He allegedly called the largest city in Wisconsin, a battleground state Trump lost by fewer than 50,000 votes, a “horrible” place.
Related
His attack left Republicans from the Badger State in a tizzy trying to clean up Trump’s mess, as ABC News reports:
Republican U.S. Rep. 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,” said Van Orden, who told The Associated Press he was sitting just feet from the former president.
He said Republicans in the room concurred. “They’re like, yeah, crime is terrible.”
U.S. Rep, 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.”
But Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents southeast Wisconsin, disputed that Trump made the comment.
“I was in the room," Steil posted on X. "President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July.”
And Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents northern Wisconsin, said he never heard Trump call Milwaukee a “horrible city.”
While his campaign........