'Trump's comments speak for themselves': DNC puts up billboards after 'horrible city' controversy

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Ten billboards about former President Trump's calling Milwaukee a "horrible city" went up around the city less than 24 hours after the statement.

"Our goal was to make sure that people knew exactly what Donald Trump said about them," Democratic National Committee (DNC) Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman said.

Rahman tells CBS 58 that the DNC put up the messaging to keep what Mr. Trump said in the minds of Milwaukeeans.

"I think the messenger doesn't really matter. It's the message that matters, right?" he said. "Trump's comments speak for themselves."

Former President Trump acknowledged what he said on Thursday, telling a Fox News reporter he was talking about Milwaukee's crime levels and that he loves the city.

RNC Spokesman Kush Desai shared the following statement with CBS 58:

“That odor that’s in the air right now is the stench of desperation from Democrats who are grasping at straws to salvage Joe Biden’s failing re-elect bid. Instead of pouncing on yet another fake news hit on President Trump, Biden and Democrats ought to spend their time and energy doing something about their horrendous record on inflation, crime, and immigration – the real issues driving Americans to the polls this November.”

Many community leaders shared their thoughts about what was said.

"His team is trying to justify those comments, but they're unjustifiable, especially coming from somebody who doesn't live in the city," Voces De La Frontera Coordinator Primitivo Torres Martinez said.

Some residents were appalled.

"If you're not from Milwaukee then don't talk smack about our city," said one Milwaukee woman who spoke with CBS 58.

But one local political expert said he thinks that others in Wisconsin may not be as offended.

"There are plenty of people out state who don't like Milwaukee, who think that Milwaukee is a strange, different country," UW-Milwaukee Professor Emeritus Mordecai Lee said.

Lee said some Wisconsinites do view Milwaukee negatively, seeing it as different from the rest of the state, and that because of this, the comments might not be as hurtful to the GOP campaign as Democrats hope.

"For all we know, there are people out state who are delighted by what he said and are saying, 'Now I've decided to vote for [Trump],'" he said.