'Go back to your bunker': Seattle mayor, Washington governor fire back at Trump threat to handle protests

President Donald Trump, in a pair of late-night tweets Wednesday, called on Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to "take back" the city from protesters, whom he called "domestic terrorists," threatening to handle the demonstrators himself if local leaders do not

"Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before,'" the president tweeted. "Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!"

"Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!" he added in another post just before midnight.

Inslee responded with a tweet of his own, telling Trump to stay out of the state and mocking the president's Twitter typo.

"A man who is totally incapable of governing should stay out of Washington state’s business. 'Stoop' tweeting," Inslee said.

Durkan also shot back with a reference to Trump's May 29 trip to a White House bunker as people demonstrated in Lafayette Square outside.

"Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker," Durkan tweeted.

After critics painted Trump's move to the bunker as cowardly, the president insisted he went there only for a quick "inspection." But Attorney General William Barr later told Fox News that the Secret Service had recommended taking him there because of security concerns about the escalating protests.

Seattle, like cities across the U.S., has seen daily demonstrations after George Floyd, an African-American man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Most of the protests have been peaceful after some initial violence.

In response to outcries against the tactics used by police in Seattle to control the crowds, Durkan promised at a Friday news conference that there would be a 30-day ban on the use of CS gas, commonly known as tear gas.

Despite that ban, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators over the weekend, prompting a new wave of outrage from activists and City Council members. In response, the Seattle Police Department removed barricades from outside the East Precinct building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, where protesters and riot squads have faced off nightly.

Police also have remained scarce in that area since then and protests have continued peacefully.

The diverse neighborhood popular with young residents has now become known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, where demonstrators have pitched tents and on Wednesday began painting what looked to be Black Lives Matter on one block of the street, as was done last week in Washington, D.C.

The Seattle Times described the liberal community that has sprung up since the police left as a "new protest society," reminiscent of the Occupy movement of 2011.

Trump's threat to intervene in Seattle's handling of the protests follows his previous pledge to use federal forces to quell unrest in cities he believes are failing to do the job themselves.

Many have objected to the potential invocation of the 1807 Insurrection Act – which gives the president the authority to use active-duty U.S. military troops against civilians – including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and his predecessor, retired Gen. James Mattis.

Contributing: Kristine Phillips and David Jackson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump demands Gov. Jay Inslee, Mayor Jenny Durkans 'take back' Seattle