Donald Trump’s transparent attempt to portray himself as a lover of Wisconsin came hard on the heels of reporting he had called Milwaukee, the host of the upcoming RNC convention called Milwaukee, the host of the upcoming RNC convention, a “horrible city,” Oh sure, Trump and the RNC furiously tried to spin his smear of the swing state as a lie, yet Trump all but owned up to it.

In case you had any doubt that Trump really did stick his foot in his mouth about Wisconsin, his clumsy, obviously insincere and faint praise during a Tuesday rally in Racine should convince you.

In the clip above, Trump was whining about the “beautiful life” he would have had with 200 fewer lawyers. Then he seemed to remember that he wanted to talk nice about Wisconsin. “But this is a beautiful life,” he suddenly said. “This is far more beautiful. What’s better, being with you right now – look at that beautiful lake.” In the video, he appears to have his back to the lake. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess he had no idea he was praising Lake Michigan.

I’m almost certain he thought it would be a lot better playing golf, watching TV or grifting for dollars. Because nothing sounded less truly lake-loving than what he said next. After the crowd cheered the “beautiful lake” remarks, he repeated that it was beautiful, twice, then said, “What’s better this, or sitting on the Pacific or the Atlantic – which has sharks.” This is just the latest example of Trump’s unhinged fixation on sharks.

“You don’t have sharks,” Trump continued, rambling. “See that's, that's a big advantage. I'll take the one without the sharks.”

So, the only good thing he could come up with as proof that he loves the beautiful lake in Wisconsin (that's really Lake Michigan) is that it doesn’t have sharks.

He definitely said Milwaukee is horrible and he doesn’t care about the rest of the state, either.

Trump mid-rant gets distracted by a lake and then pivots to sharks 🦈 pic.twitter.com/pm4OSHHxc2

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 18, 2024