Kayleigh McEnany is no friend of the media, even though she is the White House press secretary and a former political pundit. McEnany is the mouthpiece of President Donald Trump, and she is good at her job which is spinning truths to fit her boss’ narratives.
In a news briefing on Thursday, McEnany referred to Lori Lightfoot as “the derelict mayor of Chicago,” all while accusing her of not doing enough to solve the problem of gun violence in her city.
READ MORE: Chicago Mayor Lightfoot on Trump tweet: ‘What I really want to say…begins with F and it ends with U’
Mayor Lightfoot fired back on Twitter tweeting an image of a tweet by Brian Bennett, Senior White House Correspondent for Time Magazine. The tweet referenced McEnany’s quote with Lightfoot captioning, “Hey Karen. Watch your mouth.”
McEnany’s comment was in response to being asked about President Trump’s focus on the coronavirus pandemic. She replied that the president is “focusing on a lot,” including gun violence in Chicago.
“But there are other things the President has to focus on: namely, Democrat cities not controlling their streets; namely, the mayor of Chicago—people dying in her—in her—on the streets of her city every weekend. And the President sent her a letter saying, ‘You must secure your city.’”
McEnany continued her rant when asked about the president’s recent statement that more white people are killed by police than Black people.
“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,” she barked.
Neither answer was a direct response to the questions that were asked.
READ MORE: Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot dances on TikTok to announce virtual graduation ceremony
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in this sense, “derelict” was being used to mean “shamefully negligent in not having done what one should have done.”
Responses to Lightfoot’s tweet were equally positive and negative. One detractor wrote, “Hey Lori..32 dead kids under 13. Maybe you should watch your streets more and twitter less.”
While one supporter tweeted that Lightfoot has only been mayor for just over a year and that the problem of violence in America’s third-largest city preceded her by decades.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!