{"id":26784,"date":"2026-08-04T02:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26784"},"modified":"2026-08-04T02:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:58:41","slug":"their-trees-are-all-gross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26784","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Their Trees Are All Gross\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\">\n<p>President Donald Trump went off on a long, strange tangent where repeatedly expressed revulsion at the state of \u201cblue cities\u201d during an event in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do they have in common? They\u2019re all dirty. They\u2019re filthy, dirty,\u201d Trump said, adding, \u201cTheir streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump went on to specify that he didn\u2019t \u201cwant to mention any specific city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really all of them,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s attack on the homes of a large segment of the American populace came at an event that was ostensibly about a commission for military spouses. After signing an executive order establishing the group, Trump took questions from reporters. His tirade about \u201cblue cities\u201d came when he was asked about the ever-shifting state of talks to end the Iran War. Trump said he is \u201cunder no time constraints\u201d to conclude the conflict that he initially predicted would end months ago. He contrasted this with his Republican colleagues who are currently facing elections and said they are running against a \u201csick ideology.\u201d He rattled off various leftist proposals including Supreme Court reform and abolishing the Senate that he predicted would \u201cdestroy the country.\u201d From there, Trump totally went off.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are sick people,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a country goes bad, like, look at the blue cities. What do they have in common aside from massive crime? Much more crime. The Republicans have very little crime. But what do the blue cities have? \u2026 And also you can see this with nations when they go bad \u2014 the blue cities have something in common \u2014 crime, high crime, vicious, violent crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on in the event, a reporter from one of the right-wing outlets that the Trump administration has <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/white-house-limits-media-access-to-west-wing-offices-in-latest-indignity-for-the-trump-press-corps\" target=\"_blank\">added to the press corps<\/a> praised the president\u2019s redecorating efforts in Washington, D.C., which have included the <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/where-things-stand\/congressional-republicans-get-to-work-insisting-nows-the-moment-to-trumps-ballroom\" target=\"_blank\">controversial White House ballroom<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/morning-memo\/the-reflecting-pool-as-a-reflection-of-trumps-corruption-and-tin-potism\" target=\"_blank\">algae-plagued<\/a> Reflecting Pool renovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A reporter also asked Trump if he would consider trying to \u201cfederalize\u201d the capital city. Trump mused about the idea while praising his own work in the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould I federalize basically, you\u2019re saying federalize D.C.? Well, I\u2019m allowed to do that. Would I do that? If they wanted,\u201d Trump said before trailing off and turning to the changes he has made in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe took something that was in deep trouble. It was a graffiti-filled, crime-filled mess.We turned it into Shangri-La. We turned it into a great place,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cLook at the grass in front of the White House being all replaced with the top stuff. \u2026 Scott\u2019s Miracle Gro. They\u2019re doing it. \u2026 Got to give them a plug because they did the White House for free.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump returned to D.C. later on when he reiterated <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pirro-trump-reflecting-pool-damage-vandalism-fecb6e13f1475dfe8a38898360c0446f\" target=\"_blank\">his disagreement<\/a> with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro\u2019s conclusion that damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by shoddy contracting work rather than vandalism. The president repeated his highly questionable claim the pool was targeted and argued Pirro had \u201cchoked\u201d by dropping the Justice Department\u2019s case against a former Olympian for allegedly damaging it. He also brought up the capital city during his rant about the \u201cblue cities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re like Washington, D.C. was a year and a half ago with graffiti all over the place, with crime all over the place, with people afraid to be here. You had to be ashamed of your capital,\u201d said Trump. \u201cSome of the most beautiful buildings built in the real time. Like, you look at the Supreme Court building, and they put graffiti on it. The most beautiful columns I\u2019ve ever seen. \u2026 You look at those columns, how magnificent and then you see graffiti on the side of the building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Data <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opencrime.us\/analysis\/crime-and-politics\" target=\"_blank\">actually shows<\/a> red states have higher crime than blue states on average. Large cities in red states, many of which have Democratic local governments, have the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2025\/08\/15\/homicide-rates-highest-blue-cities-red-states\" target=\"_blank\">highest murder rates<\/a>. However, it\u2019s not as though Trump was doing any kind of detailed analysis. He concluded his screed by declaring the blue city ideology is \u201cnot going to happen in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe one thing they all have in common: crime. Two things, crime, but they\u2019re disgusting. They\u2019re filthy, dirty,\u201d Trump said, adding, \u201cThe streets are dirty. They have people lying all over the street doing you know what.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump went off on a long, strange tangent where repeatedly expressed revulsion at the state of \u201cblue cities\u201d during an event in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon. \u201cWhat do they have in common? They\u2019re all dirty. They\u2019re filthy, dirty,\u201d Trump said, adding, \u201cTheir streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2288924967.jpg?w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}