Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hits back at Trump over leadership jab

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey lashed back early Friday at President Trump, who accused him of being a “very weak” leader amid the protests roiling the city over George Floyd’s death.

“Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at somebody else during a time of crisis,” Frey said at a press conference, later striking the lectern, the Star Tribune reported.

“Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis. We are strong as hell. Is this a difficult time period? Yes. But you better be damn sure that we’re going to get through this,” he added.

The mayor’s response came hours after the president slammed him on Twitter and threatened to call in the National Guard to help quell the violence.

“I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership,” Trump tweeted.

“Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.”

The president’s threat came as rioters took over a police precinct and set it ablaze in protest of Floyd’s death while in police custody.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz earlier Thursday already called in the National Guard after the protests escalated.

Trump also slammed the protesters Thursday, tweeting: “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!” he wrote.

Twitter later flagged the president’s post as violating the social media giant’s rules about “glorifying violence.”

“We’ve taken action in the interest of preventing others from being inspired to commit violent acts, but have kept the Tweet on Twitter because it is important that the public still be able to see the Tweet given its relevance to ongoing matters of public importance,” it said.

People will still “be able to retweet with comment, but will not be able to like, reply or retweet it.”

The move comes after two of Trump’s tweets on mail-in voting had fact-check labels appended to them.

That unleashed a furious reaction from the president, who said he would call for legislation that may scrap or weaken a law that has protected social media companies, including Twitter and Facebook.