Donald Trump staged his latest campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin, on Tuesday and was forced to row back his comments on Milwaukee after reportedly describing the city as “horrible” last week.
“I love Milwaukee,” the candidate insisted. “I was the one that picked Milwaukee. These lying people. They say, ‘oh, he doesn’t like Milwaukee’. I love Milwaukee. I said, ‘you gotta fix the crime’. We all know that.”
What followed was an error-strewn address in which Trump attacked immigrants, his enemies on Capitol Hill, school vaccines and Joe Biden, whom he mistakenly referred to as “Joe Bride”.
The Republican presidential contender also insisted that “four years ago, the world was at peace” – apparently forgetting the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic – falsely claimed to have won the state in 2020 and promoted cryptocurrency after recently hauling in $12m in donations from Silicon Valley investors.
The event came after Trump lost his latest bid to have the gag order overturned in his New York hush money case, at which he was found guilty on 34 felony counts last month, and after he declared that business leaders who do not support him in November should be “FIRED for incompetence”.