When Republican lawmakers gather in Milwaukee next month for the presidential nomination, Donald J. Trump will stay at a Trump hotel in Chicago, about 90 miles away, rather than in the convention city, according to three people briefed on the former president’s logistics.
But that all changed mid-afternoon Tuesday when reporters from The New York Times and Chicago’s ABC News reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Trump now plans to remain in Milwaukee, said two people briefed on his plans.
Trump has been on the defensive about his views on Milwaukee since he was reported to have called it a “terrible” city during a private meeting with House Republicans in Washington last week. The change in convention plans is intended to avoid being seen as disrespecting the largest city in the key battleground state of Wisconsin.
“I plan to stay forever” in Milwaukee, Trump said in a local television interview Tuesday afternoon. Of Chicago, he said, “They have beautiful hotels there. It couldn’t be more beautiful. But I’m going to stay here.”
And Trump opened a rally in Racine on Tuesday afternoon by declaring his love for Milwaukee, about 30 miles away, claiming he picked the city for the convention and repeating his claim that he has only criticized the city for its false claims about crime and 2020 voter fraud.
“I love Milwaukee. I said we have to fix the crime. Everybody knows that,” Trump told the crowd of several thousand who gathered to hear him speak. “We have to make sure our elections are fair.”
The initial decision for Trump to stay at Chicago’s Trump International Hotel and Tower was driven partly by Trump’s personal preference and partly by security and logistical concerns, according to one of the people familiar with the Chicago planning, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive planning arrangements.
Trump has long preferred to sleep at his own properties while on the campaign trail, even flying hundreds of miles during the 2016 election to sleep in his own bed. His plans could change again before the convention begins on July 15.
Secret Service spokeswoman Alexi Worley referred questions about Trump’s accommodation to the Republican National Committee, saying in a statement that the Secret Service will ensure a comprehensive security plan is in place for the convention by “working closely with our law enforcement and public safety partners to adapt security plans as needed.”
Trump’s choice to remain in Chicago would almost certainly have spurred Democratic attacks on him.
Biden’s Wisconsin campaign manager, Garren Randolph, attacked Trump in a statement Tuesday, referencing Trump’s comments from last week.
“We don’t want him here either. Wisconsinites rejected him four years ago and they will reject him again this November,” Randolph said.
The Democratic National Committee put up 10 billboards around Milwaukee over the weekend to draw attention to Trump’s comments. Trump denied calling Milwaukee a “bad city” in a social media post Saturday.
“I chose Milwaukee. I know Milwaukee well. Therefore, I believe we will win Wisconsin,” he wrote, adding, “Who would say that without knowing how that important state will turn out?”
Judy Gavigan, 63, said at a Trump event in Racine that she wasn’t bothered by Trump’s comments about Milwaukee, arguing they were taken out of context.
“When you watch the local news and think about the situation, you see the reality that crime is terrible,” said Gavigan, who lives in Racine and works for the local chamber of commerce.
Trump frequently attacks Democrat-led cities as unsafe, despite statistics showing violent crime across the country is declining after soaring during the coronavirus pandemic.
His now-standard closing line at rallies is a vague promise to rebuild and improve American cities: “Right now cities are dead and in ruins,” he said in Racine, “and cities are falling apart.”
Wisconsin is one of several states that are likely to determine the outcome of this year’s election and is of intense interest to both the Trump and Biden camps. Trump won the state in 2016 but lost to Biden by about 20,000 votes in 2020, in part because voters in suburban Milwaukee swung to Biden.
Trump has made immigration a central selling point as he seeks to win the state this year. In Racine, Trump repeatedly slammed Biden over border control, including a policy announced Tuesday that would provide legal protections to undocumented immigrants who have married U.S. citizens and have been in the U.S. illegally for years.
“All illegal immigrants have to do is apply for his new program,” Trump said, describing what he called “sham” marriages in exchange for amnesty and taxpayer assistance.
Trump vowed again to reinstate hardline border policies and implement large-scale deportations if elected. He again described the surge in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border as an “invasion” and said of Biden’s border plan, “We shouldn’t talk about amnesty. We should talk about stopping the invasion.”
As he broadly criticized immigrants, calling them violent criminals and mentally ill, a section of the crowd of several thousand began chanting, “Send them back!”
Trump continues to falsely claim that voting in heavily Democratic Milwaukee was rife with fraud, despite a nonpartisan audit finding no evidence to support the claims. Yet in Racine, he has repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that his vote was stolen.
During the 2020 campaign, Trump criticized Milwaukee as politically corrupt, used it as an example of out-of-control urban decay and violence, and appealed to white suburban residents for support.
Trump made similar comments about Chicago, where the Democratic Party will hold its convention in August, where the 92-story skyscraper, which opened in 2009, was his last major building project.
Simon J. Levine Contributing from Racine, Wisconsin Taylor Robinson From New York.
