List of Cities Donald Trump Has Attacked

Insulting voters’ hometowns is an unorthodox election strategy, but that doesn’t seem to have deterred former President Donald Trump, who has blasted a string of cities across the U.S. as the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

Trump, who is facing various legal woes as he campaigns for a second term in the White House, has referred to various cities as being “horrible” or “corrupt” or “like living in hell.” He has either denied making the comments or clarified that he’s highlighting regional problems to reveal how he intends to help those areas if elected.

Trump is running against President Joe Biden in a 2020 rematch in November. Age has been an issue for both men (Biden is 81, Trump is 78), with each side accusing the other of making a series of gaffes and not being fit to run.

On Saturday, Trump said Philadelphia was “one of the most egregious places anywhere in the world.” He made the claim in reference to his oft-repeated but unproven claims of election fraud in 2020 and said the city was among the worst cases.

“We cannot let this happen again,” Trump said in a speech at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. “And Philadelphia was one of the most egregious places anywhere in the world […] they used COVID to cheat, they used a lot of things to cheat, but we’re not going to let it happen again.”

Biden’s election campaign shared the “egregious” insult on its social media channels, but Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, told Newsweek the move was: “Another cheap fake from the Biden campaign. He was clearly talking about election integrity from 2020.”

Trump is also accused of describing Milwaukee as “horrible,” just weeks before the city is scheduled to host the Republican National Convention in the swing state of Wisconsin. He is said to have made the remarks behind closed doors to fellow Republicans on June 13, with Punchbowl News journalist Jake Sherman reporting that he said: “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city.” Sherman’s post about the alleged remarks on X, formerly Twitter, went viral as it was viewed more than 8 million times and shared more than 5 million times.

Subsequent news reports suggested Trump had hoped to stay in Chicago, Illinois, and commute into Milwaukee only when required.

The reports sparked outrage among residents and local politicians in the battleground state, which will be crucial to Trump’s campaign and was won by Biden in 2020. Democrats attempted to capitalize on the situation by erecting billboards in the area.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said: “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.”

But Trump later denied making the remarks, claiming that holding the convention in Milwaukee had been his idea. He seemed to imply his words had been twisted.

“I love Milwaukee; I was the one that picked Milwaukee,” he told locals at a rally in Racine last Tuesday. “These lying people that say: ‘Oh, he doesn’t like Milwaukee.’ I love Milwaukee. I said, ‘You gotta fix the crime.’ But I’m the one that picked Milwaukee, and the Democrats, or the radical-left lunatics, as I call them, what they say is just so terrible. They lie, lie, lie.”

And Cheung told Forbes in a statement that Trump would be staying in the city for the convention, adding: “President Trump was always planning on staying in Milwaukee and any report stating otherwise is fake news.”

Trump has said Philadelphia, Atlanta and Detroit are “long known for being politically corrupt.” He made the allegation on X shortly after losing the 2020 election to Biden.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison told the Daily Beast last week that Trump’s insults toward certain cities are more than just rude.

“Trump is a lot of things but he certainly isn’t subtle—all of the cities he denigrates have one important thing in common: they all have significant Black populations,” he said. “Whether it’s Milwaukee, Philly, Detroit or Atlanta, Trump isn’t just insulting 97 square miles on a map, he’s insulting Black communities, Black history and Black voices.

“He’s telling us exactly what he thinks of Black Americans, and we’re listening. That’s why when we go to the polls on Nov. 5, we’re going to vote for someone who respects Black communities, who uplifts Black voices, and who commemorates Black history. We’re going to vote for President Joe Biden.”

But Trump has insisted he is not racist and that he is simply trying to help Black residents who live in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Discussing violence in Honduras and Guatemala, he said during a 2020 Fox News TownHall: “We have cities that are worse—in some cases, far worse. Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at what’s happening in Oakland. Take a look at what’s happening in Baltimore. And everyone gets upset when I say it. They say, ‘Oh, is that a racist statement?’ It’s not [racist.] Frankly, Black people come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. Thank you, sir, for saying it.’ They want help. These cities, it’s like living in hell.”

Newsweek has reached out by email to Cheung for comment.