President Donald Trump ramped up his sustained attacks against Democratic mayors on Wednesday night by moving to cut federal funding from their cities, stating that he “will not allow federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones.”
In his official White House memo on “Reviewing Funding to State and Local Government Recipients That Are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities,” Trump laid out a laundry list of grievances against Seattle, Portland, New York City, and D.C. that largely echoed the accusations he’s constantly levied against the mayors of those cities.
“My Administration will do everything in its power to prevent weak mayors and lawless cities from taking Federal dollars while they let anarchists harm people, burn buildings, and ruin lives and businesses. We’re putting them on notice today,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday night, tagging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought in the tweet.
For weeks, the President has been attacking “Democrat-run” cities, accusing their mayors of allowing rampant crime amid peaceful anti-police brutality protests that have turned violent as police clash with demonstrators. Trump has thrown his support behind the police and attempted to paint Black Lives Matter protesters as violent anarchists.
However, it’s unclear whether a blatantly partisan effort to yank federal funding from those cities would pass legal muster.
Andrew Cuomo @NY 10h
President Trump has actively sought to punish NYC since day one.
He let COVID ambush New York.
He refuses to provide funds that states and cities MUST receive to recover.
Gov. Cuomo: 'He’s not ‘king. He can’t “defund” NYC’
OR ANY OTHER CITY.
It’s an illegal stunt.
I’d like to see a review of funding that is going to the Federal government that is blatantly pursuing a GOP agenda. Not going to happen now, but I seriously hope it will happen when Biden wins.
He’s not even pretending to be President anymore. It’s now just an all-out war against anyone who does not love him, which is the majority of America. He’s using the office to wage war against America.
So the places in America that keep all the throwbacks fed should be cut from the funding they provide?
I don’t think there are Americans dumb enough to buy this crap, at least not enough to return him to the presidency.
Guys like Trump have to not go so far that the scam is obvious. He’s gently got us used to all manner of crap, but it’s starting to look like the facade is cracking.
Well then, those same blue cities should be able to keep all the federal taxes their citizens pay and use those dollars to fund their own programs … rather than those dollars being used to prop up red states.