It’s a well-worn cycle by this point.
Trump said Minneapolis burned down, so Minnesotans sarcastically posted about the ‘ash and destruction’
Several people shared picturesque photos and videos on social media after the former president’s comments.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 11, 2024 at 3:38PM
A politician suggests Minneapolis is a charred husk of the city it once was, and Minnesotans take to social media to share picturesque images of its parks and skyline with sarcastic captions. Tuesday was no different.
Former President Donald Trump asserted that the state’s largest city “burned down” during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and, within moments, social media was rife with posts depicting grassy hills and scenic sunsets.
Trump’s comments about the state of Minneapolis came amid a heated back-and-forth between him and Harris when the former president accused her of pushing for arsonists and murderers to be released from jail.
“She went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people that burned down Minneapolis,” Trump said. “She went out and raised money to get them out of jail.”
Harris did ask her supporters to donate to the Minnesota Freedom Fund in 2020, a non-profit that pays for criminal and immigration bonds for people in local jails and detention centers. Trump recently shared the mugshot of a man who benefitted from the organization’s services and was initially charged with eight felonies that summer, including murder.
Jaleel Stallings was acquitted by a jury and later settled a countersuit with the city for $1.5 million.
While pockets of Minneapolis faced large-scale destruction amid the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd, many of the affected buildings have since been restored. The Target and Cub Foods on Lake Street both reopened months after they were burned down. Business owners and residents say it may take years to restore activity in the once-bustling district.
Still, Minnesotans took issue with the former president’s characterization of the City of Lakes, taking aim at the trope that has proliferated since Harris chose Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
And at least one poster seemed to have about enough of the whole “Minneapolis burned down” rhetoric.
The district must cut 10% of its budget and is set to end this school year in statutory operating debt.
