New York City To Paint ‘Black Lives Matter’ Outside Trump Tower, President Calls It A ‘Symbol Of Hate’

President Donald Trump hit back at New York City’s decision to paint the “Black Lives Matter” slogan in front of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, calling it a “symbol of hate.”

Trump angrily tweeted a response to Mayor Bill De Blasio’s order last week to paint ‘Black Lives Matter’ letters on Fifth Avenue, as the anti-racism movement has been growing across the country for weeks.

“This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the horrible BLM chant, ‘Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon,’” Trump wrote. “Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!”

De Blasio told MSNBC on Wednesday that the city is painting the slogan for Trump to “hear” it because “he’s never shown respect for those three words.”

“When he hears Black Lives Matter, he presents a horrible negative reality of something that doesn’t exist, and he misses the underlying meaning that we’re saying we have to honor the role of African Americans in our history and our society,” said De Blasio.

De Blasio also decided to move $1 billion of the police department’s $6 billion annual funding to the Department of Education and other social-service agencies.

Last week, Trump also lashed out at Hawk Newsome, the president of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, accusing him of “treason.”

“Black Lives Matter leader states, ‘If the U.S. doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.’ This is Treason, Sedition, Insurrection!” Trump tweeted.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany minimized Trump’s comment about the slogan and said it was directed at anti-police chants that the protestors use at demonstrations, adding that Trump believes “all black lives matter.“

“What the president was noting is that that symbol, when you look at some of the things that have been chanted by Black Lives Matter, like ‘pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon,‘ that‘s not an acceptable phrase to paint on our streets,“ McEnany said at a Wednesday press briefing.

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, in recent weeks, ordered the painting of yellow “Black Lives Matter” letters on 16th Street, leading to the White House, and renamed the portion of the road Black Lives Matter Plaza.