On Wednesday (July 1), Donald Trump responded to the proposal of a Black Lives Matter mural to be painted in New York City by calling it a “symbol of hate.” The mural — supported by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio — would be painted along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, right outside Trump Tower.
“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,” the POTUS tweeted.
“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,’” he continued. “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!”
The “ONE BILLION DOLLARS” is a reference to New York City’s recently approved budget, which will reallocate $1 billion from the New York City Police Department’s $6 billion annual budget to education and social services. Mayor de Blasio explained the police defunding action during a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC (July 1).
“We’re reducing the size of the NYPD, we’re reducing overtime, we’re moving some of the functions NYPD does now — they will be replaced by civilians handling those functions who can do them better, and we’re going to take that money and put it into youth initiatives,” he told the outlet.
“It’s an important message to the whole nation,” he later said of the proposed Black Lives Matter mural. “…Obviously, we want the president to hear it because he’s never shown respect for those three words… We have to make it come alive today so we’re going to make it really clear to the president, it’s going to be right outside his doorstep.”
News of the NYPD’s budget cuts arrives after de Blasio pledged to reallocate funds to youth programs and social services in response to local George Floyd protests.
See Trump’s tweets below.