City officials in Minneapolis appear to be anticipating chaotic scenes to unfold around President Donald Trump's Minnesota rally on Thursday, with thousands of protesters expected to flood the streets.
In a statement this week, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said officers would be out in full force to ensure "everyone's safety and security" while allowing "people to exercise their Constitutional rights."
According to local reports, the rally could see as many as 10,000 demonstrators taking to the streets to do just that, with a "Trump baby" balloon also expected to make an appearance outside the event.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Democrats are also sending out a clear message to the president that he is not welcome in their state, with Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum telling Newsweek Trump's Thursday rally is just "another stop along the road to impeachment."
"I would call Mr. Trump's visit to Minnesota just another stop along the road to impeachment," McCollum said. "His vision of 'American carnage' is not a winning message."
The Minnesota representative said she has "no doubt" that Trump's now-infamous July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which he asked his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate Democratic 2020 rival Joe Biden and his son, "violates the law."
"The president's outrageous conduct will be addressed in Congress through the impeachment process, but what is quite surprising are the contortions Republicans are putting themselves through defending the indefensible," she said.
Minnesota Republicans who choose to stand behind the president, McCollum said, are "complicit in his hate."
The Democrat said she expected the president to be "in full-on bully mode" during his Thursday rally and anticipated that he would not hesitate to attack her congressional colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar "in her own district as a way of demonstrating his anti-immigrant, anti-refugee bigotry and racism."
"This seems to be his only rationale for running for re-election," McCollum said. "Certainly the rally will be promoted on Fox News, but the rest of the American public will see it for what it is: hate."
Already, Trump has called for Minnesota to "dump" Omar, as well as the town's Mayor Jacob Frey, who has also been an outspoken critic of the U.S. leader, in the lead-up to Thursday's rally.
By Tuesday, the president said his campaign had already seen as many as 72,000 tickets requested for the rally.
Despite that, McCollum said Minnesota's Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, are "thriving because we embrace multiculturalism and the contributions of people of all backgrounds.
"As an urban-suburban region, we are succeeding in spite of the incompetence, incoherence, and cruelty of Mr. Trump's policies," she said.
While Frey has also been outspoken in praising his city for "striving to be welcoming for everyone" in tweets leading up to Trump's Thursday rally, the one person he has given a chilly reception to is the president himself.
After Frey demanded that Trump's campaign "pay for the extra time our officers will be putting in while he's in town," the Minneapolis mayor and the president became embroiled in a war of words over Twitter.
After Trump dismissed Frey's demands, branding him a "lightweight mayor," the Minneapolis chief brushed off the president's attacks, writing: "Yawn... Welcome to Minneapolis where we pay our bills, we govern with integrity and we love all of our neighbors."
