Portland Mayor, Trump Go At It in Real Time

Ted Wheeler says president should either 'support us or ... stay the hell out of the way'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 31, 2020 12:10 AM CDT
Updated Aug 31, 2020 6:50 AM CDT
Portland Mayor and Trump Go Head-to-Head in Real Time
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler calls for an end to violence in the city during a news conference Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, a day after a demonstrator was shot and killed in downtown Portland.   (Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP)

As Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was giving a press conference Sunday, during which he criticized President Trump for quite some time, the POTUS was apparently watching. "Ted Wheeler, the wacky Radical Left Do Nothing Democrat Mayor of Portland, who has watched great death and destruction of his City during his tenure, thinks this lawless situation should go on forever. Wrong! Portland will never recover with a fool for a Mayor," Trump tweeted. "He would like to blame me and the Federal Government for going in, but he hasn’t seen anything yet. We have only been there with a small group to defend our U.S. Courthouse, because he couldn’t do it ... The people of Portland, like all other cities & parts of our great Country, want Law & Order." Oregon Live reports the presser "took a bizarre turn" when it became apparent Trump was live-tweeting it, and asked Wheeler to respond.

Wheeler, who had been speaking about Saturday's fatal shooting in his city, said Trump has been using hateful and divisive rhetoric for years, and that "to act as though he’s shocked (at the shooting Saturday) is appalling to me. I’d appreciate that either the president support us or he stay the hell out of the way." Wheeler also dismissed calls that he resign after the shooting, which left a man who was reportedly part of a right-wing group dead (more about him here) and a man who has reportedly described himself as anti-fascist under investigation in the death (more about him here). There were discussions online by people wanting to seek retribution for the fatal shooting, and Wheeler, along with the police chief and DA, on Sunday called for an end to the violence. The police chief said officers had attempted to keep the pro-Trump caravan out of downtown, to no avail. Following the presser, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown released a "Unified Law Enforcement Plan" to curb the violence, per KOIN. (More Portland stories.)

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