'This Is A Leader Who's Unfit To Be President': Man Inflates 'Trump Rat' In Philly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A giant inflatable "Trump rat" sat feet away from a controversial statue in Center City on Monday and the man who inflated the rat says he's aiming to draw attention to the "embarrassment Trump is to the United States."
John Post Lee is a Philadelphia native who currently lives in New York City. He says after the past election a light bulb went off in his head.
"I felt like I've always enjoyed these union rats you see around New York City and I thought I gotta make this thing. I gotta make a rat," Lee told CBS Philly.
The rat has been in New York City and Washington— and now Philadelphia.
"This is a leader who's unfit to be president of the United States. Regardless of what your policy, your beliefs are, where you are on [the political spectrum]… this guy should have never have been president," he says discussing the motive behind the rat.
"All I can do, the only thing I have at my disposal, is to draw attention to the fact that he is a ridiculer and he is a deeply ill person and the only way to deal with that type of thing is to use humor and gest to make fun of him. Hopefully, it will correct his morality. Hopefully, in some small way, he'll see things like this and if he's not too far gone it will correct his morality," Lee added.
The Philly native says he chose to position the rat in front of a statue of former Philadelphia mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo.
The statue has caused controversy in recent months.
People who want to see it come down allege Rizzo treated the African-American community unfairly, even brutally, at times.
Person Throws Eggs, Places 'Shame On President Trump' Sign On Controversial Philly Statue
Lee wants Rizzo replaced with the inventor of the cheesesteak.
"If they're going to have statues for Frank Rizzo, they might as well have a statue for the guy who's throwing snowballs at Santa Clause. That's how I feel. I think [Rizzo] should be replaced with a statue of Pat Olivieri, who invented the cheesesteak. We all love cheesesteaks, let's replace him with the inventor of the cheesesteak."
The "Trump rat" in Philly comes while the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, visited Bucks County to discuss her father's new tax plan.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was also in the area on Monday speaking at a police conference in Philadelphia.
