WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump lashed out at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday for his plans to paint “Black Lives Matter” on the street in front of the Trump Tower.
Trump called the project a “symbol of hatred” that would be “denigrating” Fifth Avenue, the Manhattan thoroughfare known for its high-priced apartments and luxury stores.
City lawmakers this week agreed on a proposed $ 88.1 billion budget that includes deep cuts to the NYPD. Since George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, advocates of law enforcement reform have been urging cities to “disburse the police” and divert taxpayer money to other social service needs.
“New York is slashing Police $ ‘s for A BILLION DOLLARS, and yet @NYCMayor is going to paint a large, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxurious Avenue,” Trump said. in a tweet.
“This will further antagonize the best of New York, who LOVE New York and vividly remember the … horrible BLM chant, ‘Pigs In A Blanket, Fry’ Em Like Bacon ‘. Perhaps our HUGE Police, who have been neutralized and despised by a mayor who hates and disrespects them, will not allow this hate symbol to stick to New York’s biggest street. Spend this money fighting crime! “
Trump is a former New York City real estate developer who grew up in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood in Queens. Last year he formally changed his primary residence to Florida.
De Blasio responded via Twitter and said Trump was out of contact.
“This is what you don’t understand: Blacks BUILT 5th Ave and much of this nation. Your ‘luxury’ came from HIS work, for which they have never been fairly compensated. We are honoring them,” wrote the mayor. “The fact that you see it as denigrating your street is the definition of racism.”
The “pig” song cited by Trump probably comes from a 2015 incident when some Black Lives Matter protesters yelled at him at the Minnesota State Fair.
Trahern Crews, an organizer of that event, said the incident was taken out of context. He claims that the singing was a joke, triggered by a police officer escorting the protesters.
“The police accompanying the protesters wanted to be part of the march or part of the demonstration,” Crews told MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes”.
“So on the way back, the officer who led the parade … was laughing and joking with the protesters, so the protesters started singing that towards him. He was more playful than anything else.”
Still, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday compared the entire Black Lives Matter movement to that one song.
“That symbol, when you look at some of the things Black Lives Matter has sung, ‘Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon,’ that’s not an acceptable phrase to paint on our streets,” McEnany said.
“You agree that all black lives matter, including that of Officer David Dorn, Patrick Underwood, two officers whose lives were taken in the midst of these riots. You disagree with an organization that sings pigs on a blanket, fry them like bacon “over our cops who are on the street.”
Dorn was a retired captain of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department who was killed while protecting a friend’s pawnshop from looters last week, authorities said.
Underwood, 53, was working for the Federal Homeland Security Protection Service when he was shot to death on May 29 while guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland.
Air Force Sgt. Steven Carrillo, 32, was arrested and prosecutors said he is connected to the far-right anti-government Boogaloo movement.
Shannon Pettypiece reported from Washington, DC, and David K. Li reported from New York City.
