Seattle mayor to South Dakota governor: 'Get off Twitter' and 'come see our city'

MSNBC interjected during South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night to fact-check her false portrayal of major cities across the United States.

“From Seattle and Portland, to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs,” Noem said, parroting the Fox News-fueled narrative that racial justice protesters have turned cities across the country into lawless, scary places.

“The violence is rampant,” she continued. “People that can afford to flee have fled.”

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, speaking to MSNBC immediately following Noem’s speech, rejected that assertion.

“Her caricature of the great cities across America is not only wrong, it is purposefully wrong,” Durkan said. “I think [Noem] needs to get off Twitter and Fox News and come see our city.”

Unlike the picture Noem painted, Durkan said her city was largely peaceful, and that violent crime was “down 5% this year.”

Durkan added, “The president and Fox News were so insistent on driving that message that people started to come there to make the reality real,” Durkan said. “But our city, like every city in America right now, with COVID-19 and a challenging economy, has a lot to work through, and that’s where we need federal leadership. And that’s where [Trump] has absolutely failed.”

In the wake of anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests that took place across the country earlier this year, Trump and many Republicans attempted to paint the demonstrators as “thugs” and “terrorists,” even going so far as to endorse military occupation of several major, notably Democrat-run, U.S. cities.

“If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” he said, speaking at the White House on June 1.

Days later, he threatened to send the military into Seattle, where demonstrators had set up an protest encampment, tweeting at Durkan to “take back your city now. If you don’t do it I will– Those Angry Anarchists must be stooped [sic].”

Durkan later fired back in a press conference, “It is unconstitutional and illegal to send the military into Seattle. There is no imminent threat of an invasion of Seattle.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.