Bill de Blasio is painting a 'Black Lives Matter' outside of Trump Tower and the President isn't happy

On Tuesday, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio discussed plans to paint a Black Lives Matter mural along 5th Avenue between 56th and 57th streets, right in front of Trump Tower.

The sign would mirror a similar mural painted in Washington near the White House.

“We’re going to take this moment in history and amplify it by taking the Black Lives Matter symbolism and putting it all over this city, including right in front of Trump Tower,” de Blasio told NBC. “It’s an important message to the whole nation, and obviously we want the president to hear it because he’s never shown respect for those three words.”

Mayor de Blasio announced that every borough will have a Black Lives Matter mural in order to honor the movement, and that a street in Brooklyn would be renamed Black Lives Matter Way.

However, President Donald Trump doesn't seem happy with the idea. In a series of tweets on Wednesday morning, Trump criticized Bill de Blasio for cutting $1 billion from the budget of the city's police department as well as his plans for the mural.

President Trump wrote: "NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue."

"This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the horrible BLM chant, 'Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon'. Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!"

Last month, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had city workers and protesters paint a massive Black Lives Matter sign on a street that leads to the White House. The street has been used by protesters calling for racial justice following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. 

The massive sign spans two blocks of 16th Street, which leads straight to the White House. The bright yellow lettering is hard to miss and can be easily spotted from above or on the ground.

"There was a dispute this week about whose street this is," John Falcicchio, chief of staff for Bowser, explained in a tweet. "Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is DC's street and to honor demonstrators who (were) peacefully protesting on Monday evening." 

Mayor Bowser also announced that the street the mural is on would be renamed to "Black Lives Matter Plaza," telling the media: "We want to call attention today to making sure our nation is more fair and more just and that black lives and black humanity matter in our nation."

President Trump didn't respond well. In a series of tweets, he wrote: "The incompetent Mayor of Washington, D.C., @MayorBowser, who’s budget is totally out of control and is constantly coming back to us for “handouts”, is now fighting with the National Guard, who saved her from great embarrassment over the last number of nights. If she doesn’t treat these men and women well, then we’ll bring in a different group of men and women!"

Bowser held her ground, responding by turning the lights on in Black Lives Matter Plaza so that Trump could “dream about #BlackLivesMatter Plaza.”