Trump keeps attacking cities he promised to fix

Donald Trump ran for president vowing to immediately liberate America’s cities from crime and poverty. Instead, he has delighted in highlighting the problems facing those same cities and blaming the Democratic officials they elect.

At an Austin, Texas, campaign rally in August 2016, Trump promised to crack down on gang and cartel violence. “I will appoint prosecutors who will go into the most dangerous communities in America and work to liberate our citizens from violence and fear,” he pledged. “All citizens deserve to be protected. No American left behind.”

Trump also focused his pitch to people of color, saying, “I want every African-American parent in this country — and all parents in this country — to be able to raise their kids in safety. … What do you have to lose by trying something new?”

In his January 20, 2017 inaugural address he again declared U.S. cities’ biggest issues would be solved immediately under his presidency.

“Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential,” he said. “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”

It did not. Rather than accept any responsibility for this broken promise nearly three years into his tenure, Trump has repeatedly attacked American cities — especially those with large racial minority populations — and used them as a political weapon against his critics.

On Monday, Trump traveled to Chicago, where Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson have frequently criticized him.

In remarks to International Association of Chiefs of Police’s conference, Trump delivered his latest attack on the Windy City. “It’s embarrassing to us as a nation,” Trump claimed. “All over the world they’re talking about Chicago. Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison.”

On Saturday, he delivered a similar line of attack in San Francisco, mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the problems in her home city.

“I can’t believe that Nancy Pelosi’s District in San Francisco is in such horrible shape that the city itself is in violation of many sanitary & environmental orders,” he tweeted, suggesting that the city was rotting away.

“Pelosi must work on this mess and turn her District around!” he wrote.

I can’t believe that Nancy Pelosi’s District in San Francisco is in such horrible shape that the City itself is in violation of many sanitary & environmental orders, causing it to owe the Federal Government billions of dollars – and all she works on is Impeachment…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019

….We should all work together to clean up these hazardous waste and homeless sites before the whole city rots away. Very bad and dangerous conditions, also severely impacting the Pacific Ocean and water supply. Pelosi must work on this mess and turn her District around!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2019

Trump has made similar attacks on the congressional districts of other political opponents. He repeatedly blamed the problems of the city of Baltimore on the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who chaired the House Oversight committee, even going so far as to call the district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live,” and claiming Cummings, who was black, was a “racist.”

Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017

mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017

Days before his 2017 inauguration, Trump also blamed Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) for the problems facing Atlanta after the civil rights icon announced he would not attend the event.

“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested), rather than falsely complaining about the election results,” Trump tweeted. “All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”

Trump has repeatedly proposed major reductions to programs that help America’s cities and has sought to cut off all aid to cities that do not cooperate with his administration’s efforts to target undocumented immigrants.

In accepting the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, Trump notably promised to assist those who were not well served by government.

“I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves,” he said at the time. “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.