President Donald Trump threatened to “take back” Seattle, Washington on Wednesday night after anti-police brutality demonstrators established a cop-free zone in the city.
Trump claimed in a thunderous tweet that Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan (D) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) “are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before.”
“Take back your city NOW,” Trump tweeted. “If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY.”
“Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course,” he tweeted 40 minutes later. “LAW & ORDER!”
The governor and mayor weren’t having it.
“A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state’s business,” Inslee replied via Twitter. “‘Stoop’ tweeting.”
“Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker. #BlackLivesMatter,” Durkan tweeted.
Earlier this week, protesters established the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” (aka CHAZ) to organize in peace after Seattle Police Department (SPD) agreed to temporarily leave its precinct building in the area in wake of several violent standoffs between officers and the demonstrators.
“We felt the safest plan at the time was to secure the building and have our offers relocated,” Seattle Police Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette said on Wednesday, per My Northwest. “We would like to be able to return to the East Precinct to our normal operations. This would improve our response times and capabilities within the neighborhood.”
But despite Trump’s claims, CHAZ is not lawless anarchist territory; according the Seattle Times, the SPD are still responding to 911 calls coming from there.