Seattle's Lesbian Mayor Jenny Durkan to Trump: Go Back to Your Bunker

The mayor clapped back at Donald Trump for his call for her to "take back" her city from protesters.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

June 11 2020 10:28 AM EST

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Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan had a pointed response to Donald Trump's tweet that she should "take back" the city from protesters who have occupied a section of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Durkan, the city's first out lesbian mayor and first woman to hold the office since the 1920s, tweeted back at Trump Wednesday night:

\u201cMake us all safe. Go back to your bunker. #BlackLivesMatter\u201d
— Jenny Durkan (@Jenny Durkan) 1591847942

Her tweet referred to reports that Trump had taken refuge in the White House bunker as protesters filled the streets around the building May 29. The president later said he had gone to the safe zone only to do an inspection, but Attorney General William Barr then contradicted that, saying the Secret Service recommended that Trump go to the bunker.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee responded to Trump as well, lampooning a typo in the president's tweet:

\u201cA man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state\u2019s business. \u201cStoop\u201d tweeting.\u201d
— Jay Inslee (@Jay Inslee) 1591851091

Demonstrators protesting racism and police brutality, in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police, briefly took over Seattle's City Hall, calling on Durkan to defund the police department and demanding that she resign. Protesters have also occupied roughly six blocks of the Capitol Hill area, declaring it a police-free autonomous zone. Police have vacated their station there but are negotiating with protesters about reopening it, Newsweek reports.