President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over plans to paint "Black Lives Matter" on the street in front of Trump Tower.
Trump called the project a "symbol of hate" that would be "denigrating" Fifth Avenue, the Manhattan thoroughfare known for high-priced apartments and luxury shopping.
City lawmakers this week agreed on a $88.1 billion proposed budget that includes deep cuts to the NYPD. Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, advocates for reform in law enforcement have been urging cities to "defund the police," and divert taxpayer money to other social service needs.
"NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue," Trump raged in a tweet.
"This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the ....horrible BLM chant, 'Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon'. Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!"
De Blasio responded via Twitter and took issue with Trump's past dealings with construction workers.
"Here’s what you don’t understand: Black people BUILT 5th Ave and so much of this nation. Your 'luxury' came from THEIR labor, for which they have never been justly compensated. We are honoring them," the mayor wrote. "The fact that you see it as denigrating your street is the definition of racism."
The "pigs" chant cited by Trump likely comes from a 2015 incident when some Black Lives Matter protesters yelled it at the Minnesota State Fair.
Trahern Crews, an organizer of that event, has said the incident was taken out of context. He claims the chant was a joke, sparked by a police officer who was escorting marchers.
"The police who were along escorting the marchers wanted to be a part of the march or a part of the demonstration," Crews told MSNBC's "All In with Chris Hayes."
"So on the way back, the officer leading the parade ... was laughing and joking with the marchers, so then the marchers kind of started chanting that towards him. It was more playful than anything."
Trump is a former New York City real estate developer and who grew up in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens. Last year he formally changed his primary residence to Florida.
