Protesters inflate massive ‘Trump Rat’ in Baltimore ahead of president’s visit

Protesters erected a balloon depicting President Trump as a rat in downtown Baltimore on Thursday ahead of his visit to the city, as well as a street sign honoring former President Obama on the town’s President Street.

In footage shared online Thursday afternoon, a man named Claude Taylor could be seen inflating the giant rat and helping a man install the “President Barack Obama Ave” street sign.

The #TrumpRat welcomes the GOP House Caucus to Baltimore pic.twitter.com/Oa7nT3W4E1

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) September 12, 2019

Trump Rat is on #ObamaAve in Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/9IJ3m6vknu

— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) September 12, 2019

“We do anti-Trump stuff, including our 14-foot inflatable Trump rat, and this is the most appropriate place that we could bring a Trump rat,” Taylor told The Baltimore Sun in an interview on Thursday.

{mosads}Taylor, the founder of Mad Dog PAC, which is committed to getting Trump out of office, said his organization has had the rat balloon for “a little over a year.” 

“The rat’s been in Newport Beach, California, on a boat,” he said. “It’s been in the Potomac on a boat. It’s been most notably docked off of Mar-a-Lago.” 

The demonstration comes as a number of local groups are expected to hit the streets in Baltimore to protest the president’s visit to the city on Thursday, where he is set to speak at a GOP House retreat.

The visit marks his first time stepping foot in the city since blasting the district as a “very dangerous & filthy place” and its congressman, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D), as a “racist” earlier this year.

A coalition of local groups is planning to hold one protest, titled “Trump out of Baltimore,” according to a Facebook event set up for the demonstration. The groups include ICE Out of Baltimore, Peoples Power Assembly, Youth Against War & Racism, and one referred to as the Baltimore Welcoming Committee.

An organizer behind the planned demonstration, Miranda Bachman, said in a press statement that the “people of Baltimore, especially young people, are deeply opposed to Trump’s policies of racism and division, whether it’s his attacks on migrants or refugees or his not so veiled racist attacks on Black and Brown people.” 

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 190 people have signed up to attend the demonstration via Facebook. More than 500 people have indicated interest in the protest.