Atlanta mayor to Trump: ‘Just stop talking’ about protests

Published 10:31 am Sunday, May 31, 2020

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Sunday that President Donald Trump should “just stop talking” about the ongoing protests across the country over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.

“He should just stop talking. This is like Charlottesville all over again,” Bottoms said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“He speaks and he makes it worse. There are times when you should just be quiet and I wish that he would just be quiet. Or if he can’t be silent, if there is somebody of good sense and good conscience in the White House, put him in front of a teleprompter and pray he reads it and at least says the right things, because he is making it worse.”

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After a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned deadly, Trump sparked criticism by saying, there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Floyd, a black man, died last week after an arresting officer in Minneapolis pushed his knee into his neck while he was on the ground handcuffed. The officer has been charged with murder.

Bottoms joined the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, in calling for better leadership from Trump.

Over the last few days as violent protests have gripped cities across American, Trump has tweeted things that seemed to fan the flames including:

  • References to the U.S. Secret Service being ready to unleash “vicious dogs” on protesters at the White House.
  • “these THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd.”
  • “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
  • Bowser said government and communities need to acknowledge the hurt and anger people are feeling, not “hearken to the segregationist part of our country.”