There were a couple gasps but mostly little surprise from metro Atlantans hearing about Donald Trump’s latest swipes at the city.
During a rally on Saturday in downtown Atlanta, the former president castigated Georgia’s governor, fellow Republican Brian Kemp, as a “bad guy,” and tossed more hand grenades at the image of life in the state’s biggest city, which he said was “like a killing field.”
While some from Trump’s own party suggested the approach won’t help him pull in more voters, a number of Atlantans on Sunday afternoon saw the former commander-in-chief’s descriptions as inaccurate and purposely bombastic.
Trump on social media and then during a rally at Georgia State University’s arena let it rip. He said of Georgia, “the state has gone to hell” and, bringing up crime, said Atlanta became a “killing field.” (He also said Kemp and his allies “want us to lose.”)
Denaya Key, a 32-year-old mom who brought her young daughter to play at Piedmont Park, said she served in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Syria.
“A killing field?” she asked to make sure she heard the former president’s words correctly. “I don’t agree. I think Atlanta is a pretty decent place to live.”
She grew up in East Point and now lives in Lithonia, but she said she feels comfortable regularly spending much of her time in the city of Atlanta, where she works as an elementary school teacher.
Finishing up a grocery trip near Piedmont Park, Lida Moulder said she intends to vote for Trump this year, hoping he’ll be able to improve the economy. But she said crime in the city of Atlanta “doesn’t seem any different than anywhere else.” She lives in Palmetto, which is in south Fulton, but visits with an aunt who lives near the city park.
And when it comes to curbing crime, she disagrees with Trump on a key issue: “I think they need to keep guns away from everybody.”
Dan Denofsky, who lives in Gwinnett and works in marketing, said he regularly visits Piedmont Park and other places in the city with his family. He said the phrase “killing field” is “both insulting and incorrect,” but not surprising coming from Trump. Nonetheless, he said he thinks crime is too high all over.
Nick Hendricks, a 27-year-old electrician in Virginia Highland, said he views the phrase Trump used as “political hyperbole to get people riled up,” something he said many politicians engage in. While he doesn’t feel unsafe walking in parts of Atlanta, he said his mother and sister, who both live near Piedmont Park, have told him they’ve noticed an increase in crime nearby. So his mom bought a gun and his sister, a Taser. But he said he doubts either would describe Atlanta the way the former president did.
The number of homicides reported in the city of Atlanta last year was down 21% compared to the year before and is lower than any time since the COVID pandemic, according to police records. But the number of recorded homicides still remains sharply higher than it was in the three years before the pandemic began.
So far in 2024, 69 homicides have been reported, compared to 68 for the same period last year, according to the city’s latest public data through July 20.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens took to Instagram recently to push back against Trump and make a pitch for volunteers and donations to the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris. “A desperate, dangerous, divisive, lying, senile Donald Trump just rambles for an hour and a half in Atlanta. He’s operating out of fear and revenge. Kamala Harris has this man afraid!”
Trump’s latest criticism of Georgia’s governor broke somewhat of a pause in such attacks in recent months. But the former president has sporadically over the years unleashed criticism of the city of Atlanta, often, but not always, focused on crime.
In 2017, after then U.S. Rep. John Lewis — a civil rights icon — had said he would skip Trump’s inauguration, Trump tweeted about the congressman and his district, covering much of the city: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk -- no action or results. Sad!”
At other times since, online transcripts of Trump’s speeches show him saying “I loved Atlanta, but they’re leaving in droves because it’s too unsafe” and that the city and others around the nation “are rotting away and becoming cesspools of murder.”
Homicides reported in the city of Atlanta
2023: 135
2022: 171
2021: 161
2020: 157
2019: 99
2018: 88
2017: 80
SOURCE: City of Atlanta police
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