Donald Trump Slams Washington State’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, ‘Must End This Seattle Takeover Now!’
On Friday, Donald Trump continued his attack against Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and the individuals occupying the so-called “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.” In a tweet, he accused her of finding it “wonderful” that “terrorists” were allowed to take over the city.
“Seattle Mayor says, about the anarchists takeover of her city, ‘it is a Summer of Love’. These Liberal Dems don’t have a clue. The terrorists burn and pillage our cities, and they think it is just wonderful, even the death. Must end this Seattle takeover now!”
Ongoing protests in the city resulted in police making the decision to board up and abandon an area around the city’s East police precinct on Monday. Occupiers took over a 5-block section of the city, which they declared a police-free zone as part of the nationwide movement to defund the police.
Law enforcement said that the decision to leave was an “exercise in trust” and an attempt at de-escalation as protests over George Floyd’s death continued to grip the nation. Since then, occupiers have planted gardens, are giving out free food, and have hosted documentary screenings. Local reports say things have remained largely peaceful and some have likened the gathering as a sort of modern-day Woodstock.
On Wednesday, Trump slammed Durkan and Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, calling on the two leaders to take back control of their city and threatening federal action if they didn’t in a series of tweets. Both Inslee and Durkan responded to Trump’s message with dismissal. Durkan chided Trump to “go back to your bunker,” a reference to the short time that Trump reportedly spent in the White House bunker after protests in Washington D.C. became turbulent.
On Thursday, Trump took his message to Fox News, reiterating his promise for federal action if local leaders didn’t get the situation under control.
Durkan pushed back on Trump’s claims that the demonstrators in Seattle were domestic terrorists, according to Patch, and said that federal intervention would be unwelcome and even illegal.
“Our President wants to tell a story about domestic terrorists who have a radical agenda and are promoting a conspiracy that fits his law-and-order initiatives. Lawfully gathering and expressing first amendment rights, demanding we do better as a society, and providing true equity for communities of color is not terrorism. It’s patriotism.”
She also responded to his statements with a series of tweets, saying that Trump doesn’t understand the situation in Seattle and chided him as being “weak” for not listening to the citizens speaking out about black violence.
One of the things the President will never understand, is that listening to community is not a weakness, it is a strength.
— Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) June 11, 2020
Reactions to Trump’s Friday tweet were mixed, with some people calling for the president to make use of the Insurrection Act and for Washington citizens to vote out their current leaders. Others likened Trump’s behavior to that of a dictator and vowed to vote him out in November.
As of this reporting, neither Durkan nor Inslee have responded to Trump’s latest message.
