President Trump does not want the Black Lives Matter movement on his front step.
The combative commander-in-chief complained Thursday that the “fabled” stretch of Fifth Ave. in front of his Midtown skyscraper would be ruined if Mayor de Blasio moves forward with a plan to install a massive “Black Lives Matter” mural there.
“Bill de Blasio wants to paint the fabled & beautiful Fifth Ave., right in front of Trump Tower/Tiffany, with a big yellow Black Lives Matter sign,” Trump tweeted. “‘Pigs in a Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon,’ referring to killing Police, is their chant. NYC Police are furious!”
Trump did not offer evidence for his claim that NYPD officers are upset about the planned installation.
The anti-police chant Trump referenced was based on a local news report out of St. Paul, Minn., where some protesters had shouted it during a recent march, a White House official said.
De Blasio fired back at Trump by charging that “only warped minds equate the words Black Lives Matter with violence.”
“It’s a movement to recognize and protect the lives of Black people. Nobody’s surprised that makes you uncomfortable,” the mayor tweeted at Trump. “This city’s doing the REAL work of healing the rift between police and community — because unlike you we’re not afraid of doing the work.”
The NYPD did not return a request for comment.
In an earlier tweet, Trump took aim at Hawk Newsome, the president of Black Lives Matter’s New York chapter, over a statement he had made in a television interview.
“Black Lives Matter leader states, ‘If U.S. doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.‘ This is Treason, Sedition, Insurrection!” Trump posted.
Trump’s irate tweets came one day after de Blasio announced that the city will paint the “Black Lives Matter” rallying cry on Fifth Ave. between 56th and 57th Sts. — directly in front of the president’s namesake high-rise.
The city also plans to paint murals on Centre St. in downtown Manhattan and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. in Harlem.
That’s in addition to “Black Lives Matter” street murals already installed in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.
Plans for the murals were devised in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis cop kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes as he begged for his life.
Trump’s reluctance to celebrate the “Black Lives Matter” movement comes as he continues to oppose the removal of monuments and statues honoring the Confederacy and other racist structures.
