Mayor Walsh still wants Donald Trump to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Donald Trump’s constant criticisms of everyone from Mexican immigrants to the grieving family of an American soldier shows his “insecurities,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said in an interview with Boston.com on Tuesday.
“He automatically takes it right to the personal immediately,” Walsh said. “I think that just shows some of his insecurities.”
Walsh would know this himself. More than a year ago, he and the then-longshot presidential candidate started a short war of words after Trump said Mexican immigrants were “rapists.”
Walsh said Trump should apologize if he wanted to build a hotel in Boston. Trump criticized Walsh for Boston 2024’s failed Olympic bid and said if Walsh didn’t apologize to him, then voters should “vote him the hell out of office.”
Walsh then tagged Trump to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and pour icy water on his head. Trump responded by calling him a “clown” and told Boston to “get a real mayor.”
A year later, and weeks after Trump clinched the Republican nomination, Walsh reiterated his Ice Bucket Challenge to Trump.
“I still challenge him to the Ice Bucket Challenge. He still hasn’t done it,” Walsh said.
(Trump did take the Ice Bucket Challenge back in 2014.)
Walsh, who has endorsed fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, said that Trump’s attacks on the grieving family of a Muslim U.S. soldier showed his “disrespect” of the military. And the mayor contrasted Trump’s speech promoting American-made products on Monday with the fact that the Donald J. Trump Collection is made in factories elsewhere.
“He spoke yesterday of creating more jobs for Americans and trying to create more opportunities. You could start by doing your own company, and making some of your products in America,” Walsh said. “That’d be a great start. [He] could hire probably thousands of people right there alone, himself. He could help jumpstart the economy by just doing what he’s preaching.”
Walsh, who has a background in the labor movement, said he has no interest in joining a Clinton Cabinet should she win the presidency. But he said that he does plan to campaign on behalf of Clinton in Massachusetts and, if asked, in Rust Belt swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.
“My one priority is being mayor of the city of Boston, but obviously, I’ll take some weekends off if they want me to go to those places and do some campaigning,” he said.
Like Walsh, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has expressed his concerns about Trump and has said he will not vote for the businessman. If Baker, a Republican, wants the Democratic mayor’s endorsement during his 2018 re-election bid, Walsh suggested one way to lock that down.
“We’re still feeling each other out,” Walsh said. “We’ll see if he supports Hillary.”
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