May 29, 2020 - Politics & Policy
Minneapolis mayor to Trump: “Weakness is pointing your finger” during a crisis
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey fired back at President Trump on Friday, after the president accused the mayor of weak leadership amid violence sparked by the killing of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.
Driving the news: Trump made his accusations in a pair of tweets early Friday, saying he would bring the national guard into Minneapolis if Frey couldn't “bring the City under control.”
- "A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak radical left mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the city under control, or I will send in the National Guard and get the job done right," Trump tweeted.
- ....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
- Twitter flagged the tweet as a violation of its rules against glorifying violence, the first time one of the president's tweets has been flagged.
What he's saying: Frey responded to the tweets after a reporter read them out to him at a press conference Friday.
"Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at somebody else, during a time of crisis. Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis. We are strong as hell. Is this a difficult time period? Yes. But you better be damn sure that we're going to get through this,"— Frey, at a press conference Friday
