#‘Hey Karen’: Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot rips Kayleigh McEnany

Tension between the White House and Chicago’s mayor took a personal turn Thursday – as press secretary Kayleigh McEnany referred to Lori Lightfoot as a “derelict mayor” during a briefing.

McEnany made the remark as she shifted her attention to Chicago’s recent spate of gun violence after being asked about President Trump’s focus on the coronavirus pandemic, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Lightfoot, in turn, later called McEnany a “Karen,” or social media shorthand for an entitled, meddling, typically middle-aged white woman.

“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 – on the streets of her city every weekend,” McEnany said, according to a White House transcript. “And the president sent her a letter saying, ‘You must secure your city.’”

McEnany returned to the topic later in the briefing in response to a question about Trump claiming that more white people are killed by cops than their black counterparts, the transcript shows.

“I’ve listed for you the names of these kids who have died across the country,” McEnany said. “It is unacceptable, and under this president, he’ll take action. 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.”

In response, Lightfoot took to Twitter and posted: “Hey, Karen. Watch your mouth.”

Lightfoot’s tweet, which was liked nearly 100,000 times as of early Friday, generated a wide variance of replies, including some that noted “bigotry” in other responses to the Democrat’s post.

“Bunch of Trump bots and racist right wingers calling themselves out,” one reply read. “For real, potus and crew need to keep Chicago out their mouth!”

Other replies to Lightfoot’s tweet included a suggestion that she ask for federal help since she “clearly can’t get the shootings and murders” in her city under control.

“The lives of those murdered do matter,” one response read.

White House officials did not reply to a request for comment in response to Lightfoot’s tweet, Fox News reports.