Lori Lightfoot labels Trump aide Kayleigh McEnany a Karen for calling her 'derelict mayor' over Chicago unrest
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, on Thursday, July 16, slammed White House press secretary Kaleigh McEnany, and called her a "Karen" for saying that she was a "derelict mayor." Lightfoot's remarks were in response to McEnany's statement, who while answering reporters questions during a press briefing, made damning comments about the Chicago mayor, and accused her of "doing a very poor job securing her streets."
McEnany also said she believed Lightfood should seek federal assistance in curbing a recent spike in violence in her city. The mayor, however, hit out at the press secretary, telling her to "watch your mouth." McEnany's comments were reportedly brought to Mayor Lightfoot's attention through a tweet from Brian Bennett, Senior White House Correspondent for Time Magazine.
Bennett, in his tweet, wrote: "White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany just called Lori Lightfoot 'the derelict mayor of Chicago' and said she should request federal help to secure the city." The Democratic Mayor, shortly after his tweet, shared a screengrab of Bennett's tweet and added: "Hey, Karen. Watch your mouth." 'Karen' has become a popular moniker to refer to demanding, racist and entitled White middle-aged women.
The White House press secretary, during Thursday's press briefing, referred to Lightfoot twice, slamming the mayor both times for failing to curb violence in Chicago. When McEnany was asked the president's full attention is not in the current coronavirus pandemic in the country, she responded with: "There are other things the president has to focus on - namely the Democratic cities not taking control of their streets, namely the mayor of Chicago who has people dying on the streets of her city every weekend. 'The president sent her a letter saying you must secure your city."
Reports also asked the press secretary to elaborate on President Donald Trump's comment that White people are killed just as often as Black people by police officers in the country. McEnany, while answering the question, again brought up recent violence in Chicago.
"I’ve listed for you the names of these kids who have died across this country. It is unacceptable, and under this President, he’ll take action," she said. "And the derelict mayor of Chicago should step up and ask for federal help because she’s doing a very poor job at securing her streets."
Trump also targeted the Chicago mayor and her city as recently as Wednesday, July 15, over the recent spike in violence in the region. The Republican leader said: "We’ll have another announcement next week with the Attorney General, the FBI, and others concerning our cities, because the left-wing group of people that are running our cities are not doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing."
"And it’s not a very tough job to do if they knew what they were doing. So we’ll be talking about that next week and probably have an announcement as to what we’re planning to do to help them. They’re supposed to be asking for help, and they don’t want to ask," he added. The president, during a town hall with Fox News last month, had referred to living in Chicago as being "worse than Afghanistan."