Liberal Mayor Wants To Charge Trump a Whopping 26 Times More than Obama for Minneapolis Rally Security
This isn’t exactly “Minnesota nice.”
Two days before a scheduled re-election rally for President Donald Trump in Minneapolis, the city wants to charge the Trump campaign more than a half-million dollars for security.
That’s about 10 times the amount the campaign is charged in other cities, and an astonishing 26 times more than then-President Barack Obama was charged for a rally in Minneapolis in 2009, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
According to the Trump campaign, the city presented the $530,000 bill to the operator of the Target Center, where the rally is scheduled to take place. The venue operator then sought financial help from the campaign.
The inflated price tag had the Trump campaign threatening a lawsuit if the venue cancelled the event over security costs, and Trump himself taking to Twitter to complain on Tuesday.
The lightweight mayor is hurting the great police and other wonderful supporters. 72,000 ticket requests already. Dump Frey and Omar! Make America Great Again! https://t.co/ibTqvSbsbn
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2019
Someone please tell the Radical Left Mayor of Minneapolis that he can’t price out Free Speech. Probably illegal! I stand strongly & proudly with the great Police Officers and Law Enforcement of Minneapolis and the Great State of Minnesota! See you Thursday Night!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2019
Maybe it’s just a coincidence that Mayor Jacob Frey is not only a liberal and member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (what Democrats call themselves in Minnesota) but also is a solid opponent of all things Trump. In fact, in late September, Frey distributed a statement over Twitter making clear just how much he despises the president
“While there is no legal mechanism to prevent the president from visiting, his message of hatred will never be welcome in Minneapolis,” he said.
On October 10, our entire city will stand not behind the President, but behind the communities and people who continue to make our city – and this country – great. pic.twitter.com/IGw2qis3h5
— Jacob Frey (@Jacob_Frey) September 26, 2019
Note how the statement begins, “Under ordinary circumstances, it would be an honor to welcome a sitting President of the United States in Minneapolis and showcase all our city has to offer on a national stage.”
Maybe “ordinary circumstances” means when the president is a Democrat, or when liberals haven’t developed a national fetish for signaling their overweening virtue, or maybe it’s just when the inherently totalitarian nature of the left hasn’t been as hideously exposed as it has been during the Trump years.
Remember Minneapolis is the city that gave American Rep. Ilhan Omar, the radical leftist who (troubled marital history aside) has a history of anti-Semitic remarks so bad it stands out even in the modern, notoriously anti-Semitic Democratic Party.
It’s also the city that gave America Keith Ellison, the former representative from Omar’s district. In 2017, he came so close to winning an upset victory to be elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee that The New York Times described the contest as having a “measure of suspense not seen in the party in decades.” (Ellison is now Minnesota’s attorney general.)
In other words, leaders of the Minnesota Democratic Party (or DFL) are pretty well solidly ensconced in the mainstream of the Democratic Party of 2019 – and that means hatred of Donald Trump is the driving force behind every decision.
And that, in turn, means city leaders like Frey apparently see nothing wrong with charging one president $20,000 to hold a rally while charging another $530,000 for the same type of event in the same location.
(Of course, an argument could be made that a Trump rally is more likely to attract opponents who will engage in violence, but that says more about Trump opponents – like the Minnesota Democrats – than it does about the candidate.)
The Trump campaign had set an 11 a.m. deadline for the question to be resolved, but it passed without any action. The rally is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. (CDT) Thursday in the city’s Target Center.
“The arena in Minneapolis has been fully approved,” campaign manager, Brad Parscale, confirmed in an email to supporters Tuesday afternoon. “The Target Center has backed off cancelling the contract, which means President Trump’s Keep America Great rally will go on as scheduled. Consistent with our original agreement with the venue, the Trump campaign has not agreed to pay any additional funds.”
DFL wingnuts aren’t the only powers that be in the North Star State. The Minneapolis police union is expected to be out in force for the Trump rally – as supporters not as security.
Minneapolis Police Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the union, told Fox News on Tuesday that the money the city wanted to charge the Trump campaign was a way to “bully” the president and his supporters. And the city might be using other strong-arm tactics, too.
Shortly after the Trump rally was announced, the city police department announced a policy forbidding police officers from wearing their uniforms to off-duty political events, according to USA Today.
But Kroll isn’t deterred.
His officers plan to turn out in force for the Trump rally, wearing red “Cops for Trump” shirts designed by the Minneapolis Police Federation.
The idea, he told Fox, is to turn the Target Center into a “sea of red.”
That might not be “Minnesota nice” either – but for Trump supporters, it will do just fine.
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