Milwaukee Newspaper Brandishes a Three-Word Headline in Response to Trump’s Disparaging Comments

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel covered comments former President Donald Trump made about the Wisconsin city where this year’s Republican National Convention is set to take place, and the headline consisted of Trump’s own words.

While meeting with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Trump reportedly called Milwaukee a “horrible city” behind closed doors. The comments leaked, and the media ran with it — and some Milwaukeeans were quick to lob their own insults at the ex-president.

And on Friday, echoing the classic “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline by the New York Daily News in 1975, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel featured the brief but pointed headline: “Trump: Milwaukee ‘Horrible'”:

Front page of today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. pic.twitter.com/HP1qqW5YVz

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 14, 2024

The comments made by Trump — “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city” — were heavily covered while he was in Washington, DC, and many Republicans, including some from Wisconsin, tried to cover for him. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), who was in the meeting where the comment was made, even denied that Trump said it — after Trump admitted that he definitely said it, but was only talking about the crime rate and “election integrity.” (Trump lost the state of Wisconsin to President Joe Biden in 2020.)