‘Welcome to Minneapolis’: Now pay up, Mr. President

MINNEAPOLIS » The conflict and Twitter battles arrived in Minnesota well ahead of President Donald Trump’s touchdown in the state.

Trump traded Twitter insults with the Minneapolis mayor over who should pay more than $500,000 in security costs for today’s rally at a downtown arena. He denounced Jacob Frey as a “Radical Left” lightweight and blasted the Democrat for a police policy banning officers from wearing their uniforms in support of political candidates. He sprinkled in a reference to his favorite foil — the city’s Rep. Ilhan Omar — just for good measure.

“Yawn,” Frey tweeted back. “Welcome to Minneapolis where we pay our bills, we govern with integrity, and we love all of our neighbors.”

It was just a warmup to Trump’s first campaign rally since being engulfed in the swirl of an impeachment investigation, an event expected to pack an extra punch. Heading to Omar’s home turf, a liberal outpost in the Midwest, Trump quickly stirred up passions and partisanship as few politicians can.

Trump will land in Minnesota as polls show Americans’ support for impeachment and for removing him from office have ticked up in the weeks since House Democrats launched an impeachment investigation. While his GOP allies have launched a campaign to reverse the trend, Trump’s self-defense may be the best preview of how he intends to fight back in the weeks ahead.

“He needs to be able to show right now, given all of this impeachment stuff, that America is rallying to his defense. And I don’t think that that is going to be the optic that’s created,” said Ken Martin, the state Democratic chairman.