"If they don't do the job, I'll do the job," President Trump said at the White House on Monday about the lack of leadership in Seattle. The city has been a scene of chaos the past several days after a group of protesters kicked police out of an area they've deemed separate from the United States and renamed their new habitat the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.
Gov. Jay Inslee has failed to address the rebellion, and Mayor Jenny Durkan tried to spin the anarchy into a positive, suggesting CHAZ could actually help turn Seattle into a "summer of love."
"If they don't do the job, I'll do the job," says Pres Trump, calling on the Mayor & Governor to end the occupation of the CHOP zone in Seattle. Hinting at dispatching troops, he said the occupation could spread, “and we’re not going to let it happen.” pic.twitter.com/ivXwTVI1m5
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 15, 2020
"These people have taken over...a vast part of Seattle....And we have a governor who's a stiff, and we have a mayor who said, 'This is going to be a love fest,'" Trump reacted.
President @realDonaldTrump on the CHAZ situation in Seattle: If the mayor and governor don’t do the job, I will pic.twitter.com/1lRzYAulhQ
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) June 15, 2020
He added that Gov. Inslee is "one of the most overrated politicians in the country" and the mayor "doesn't even know if she's alive."
"These are violent people that took it over," Trump added, noting that he saw punches being thrown while watching coverage of CHAZ on Fox News.
He said he could do about 10 different things that would end the chaos very quickly.
Trump also criticized the "radical left press" for not covering CHAZ. He said it would be different "if the Right ever took over a city."
We, of course, have been following the chaos in CHAZ extremely closely. To see more of what it's like out there, follow Julio's excellent reporting. He was on the ground there for several surreal days.
The president is expected to sign an executive order on police reform on Tuesday.