#Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler ‘made a fool of himself’ by joining protesters, Trump says

Enlarge Image

President Donald Trump (left), and Ted Wheeler, mayor of Portland, Oregon.
REUTERS, AP

President Trump slammed Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Thursday, calling him “pathetic” for his attempt to commiserate with Black Lives Matter protesters in the Oregon city — only to get booed and tear-gassed by federal troops.

“He made a fool out of himself,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “He wanted to be among the people so he went into the crowd and they knocked the hell out of him. That was the end of him.”

“So, it was pretty pathetic,” he said.

Wheeler worked his way to the steps of the Multnomah County Justice Center on Wednesday to speak to the thousands of protestors that have gathered there for nearly two months.

But as he began to speak, the crowd shouted him down with chants of “tear gas Teddy” and “do your job!”

“I stand with you,” the mayor told the crowd, only to get jeers in response.

Things only got worse for Wheeler from there: He was caught in a wave of tear gas fired by federal officers dispatched to the city by Trump.

“I’m not gonna lie, it stings,” he said. “It’s hard to breathe, and I can tell you with 100 percent honesty that I saw nothing that provoked this response.”

Wheeler has vehemently objected to the presence of the federal forces in the city, saying they have only escalated the violence.

But Trump told Hannity the protestors are “not respecting the police.”

“The police do an incredible job,” he said. “It’s a very tough job. It’s a very dangerous job.”