'Not a net positive': Embittered Milwaukee locals gripe that RNC was a huge bust for city

A crucial swing state's most populous city was left with a sour taste in its mouth by a Republican National Convention that failed to convince residents their nominee doesn't find their metropolis to be "horrible," a new report shows.

Milwaukee residents were less than impressed by the maximum security and low-profit event that hit their city — coupled with the and lack of access they had to the political event that confirmed the Republican nomination of former President Donald Trump, locals told Salon writer Bob Hennelly.

"It’s kind of ironic" Hennelly wrote. "The Jan. 6 violent mayhem caused by Trump’s partisans fighting to derail the certification of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president no doubt informed this 21st-century feudalism risk threat matrix."

Mayor Cavalier Johnson — a Democrat who slapped back fiercely when news spread Trump had called the massive Wisconsin city "horrible" — told Hennelly he agreed to host the convention with hopes it would provide an economic boost to his city.

But the only boost Peter Rickman, president of the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers, reported was an additional $4 in hourly pay for convention jobs — which 25 percent of the 1,100-member union refused to take.

Rickman echoed the complaints made by local business owners that the promised RNC windfall never actually fell.

“This has not been a net positive,” Rickman said. “I’ve heard from our members that work elsewhere, for all the promises that have been made, very little has returned on that.”

Hennelly put much blame on the militarized perimeter that kept the political elite in and the locals out. He noted the only contact to make national headlines was when homeless veteran Samuel Sharpe Jr. was shot by five Columbus police officers about a mile from the perimeter.

“Who is to be held accountable?" Aurelia Ceja, co-chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, reportedly asked. "Because it was obviously Columbus (Ohio) Police are going back to their state and city but we invited them here."

Protesters were also infuriated by the lack of access to political candidates that are supposed to represent their best interests in Washington D.C., Hennelly reports.

Alexis Pleus, a founder of the nonpartisan advocacy group Truth Pharm who lost her son to opioid addiction, was furious that protesters were given no access and received no outreach.

“It’s an incredible disappointment," Pleus told Hennelly. "For them to remove us out of the action is absolutely outrageous.”

ALSO READ: Milwaukee girded for massive convention protests. But they got something else

This frustration mounted in what may prove to be a key city in the upcoming presidential election: Trump won Wisconsin when he won the presidential election 2016 and lost Wisconsin when he lost in 2020.

At the beginning of the convention, Trump felt confident enough about his ability to claim such swing states that he chose a MAGA loyalist more likely to strengthen his base than bring in new voters to be his running mate, a recent political analysis contends.

But President Joe Biden's decision to drop out leaves Vice President Kamala Harris primed to claim his campaign and choose a running mate who can do what Vance can't: earn undecided votes in swing states such as Wisconsin.

Hennelly reports Milwaukee last week saw Republican political elite spend big to protect and celebrate themselves as homeless Americans slept outside in tents.

"We have been hearing from candidates about being so angry about the unhoused while they are oozing money into this convention that could house hundreds of people," Pleus told Hennelly.

"They’d rather waste money on this political charade than actually take care of American people."