As tensions flare across the country, many are looking to President Donald Trump to offer leadership.
However, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) says she would prefer if Trump did not comment on the protests.
“He should just stop talking,” Bottoms said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
She continued, “This is like Charlottesville all over again, 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,” Bottoms added.
Watch the video below:
“This is like Charlottesville all over again. 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.”
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) May 31, 2020
Atlanta Mayor @KeishaBottoms reacts to President Trump’s handling of protests across the country. #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/FN3qQJcOS2
After days of violent demonstrations, Trump received criticism for several tweets he sent:
….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
….got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on them, hard – didn’t know what hit them. The front line was replaced with fresh agents, like magic. Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020
….have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. “We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020
Trump later tried to clarify his tweet about looting:
Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night – or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
During remarks on Saturday, Trump addressed the violent demonstrations, “What we are seeing now on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or with peace.”
He continued, “Those making excuses or justification for violence are not helping the downtrodden, but delivering new anguish and new pain.”
Additionally, he vowed to stop “mob violence.”
“It does not serve the interests of justice or any citizen of any race, color, or creed for the government to give in to anarchy, abandon police precincts, or allow communities to be burned to the ground,” Trump added.
Despite his comments on Saturday, several Democratic leaders voiced concerns that his tweets were only serving to fuel rage.
Bottoms recently made headlines after she rebuked protesters in her city as demonstrations became violent, “What I see happening on the streets of Atlanta is not Atlanta. This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.”
“This is chaos,” Bottoms added as she implored demonstrators to “go home.”