President Donald Trump is a notorious defaulter, according to the mayor of Minneapolis. The Democrat went to the Washington Post to complain about the ‘overdue’ bill of more than half a million dollars with which the president saddled the city.
He insisted that as a mayor, he have a responsibility to protect freedom of expression, even for a president whose rhetoric and policy he finds objectionable. “But of course I don’t have to subsidize this.” The Democratic mayor Jacob Frey does not have the right word for the financial mores of the American president.
Notorious defaulter
Frey describes Trump in his open letter to the newspaper as a notorious defaulter: “The constant in Trump’s private and political career? He does not like paying the bill”. The Democrat refers to cities like El Paso and Tucson, who visited the president during his campaign, but to whom he never paid the costs incurred.
After Donald Trump announced at the end of September that he would make a campaign stop in Minneapolis, Frey had his civil servants set up a bill for the expected costs: $530,000. Especially the security of the president is a costly affair according to the Mayor. Given the tight financial situation of the city, Frey finds it unfair that his residents have to pay that bill. The mayor, therefore, sent the invoice to the White House.
But instead of paying, Frey received a swipe on Trumps Twitter last week. Describing him as the “lightweight mayor” that hurts the “great police” and other great supporters. Seventy-two thousand “requests for tickets already”, wrote the president the day before the campaign stop.
Not half a million, but 50,000
Although Trump’s campaign caravan has already left the city, the president’s team has still not paid the bill. But there’s one bright spot for Mayor Frey: since his quarrel with Trump, he’s had about 50,000 more followers on his Twitter. A tripling.
