MSNBC host Rachel Maddow brought on Democratic Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan to fact check Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s Wednesday night Republican National Convention speech.
Noem’s speech included a condemnation of mob violence in major U.S. cities and a warning against “the path taken by Democrats and their radical supporters.”
“We’re just going to interject here just for a moment,” Maddow said after the speech. “That was the South Dakota governor who said a lot of things.”
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“But as we have said over the course of this coverage, we will interject when we feel like there is something that’s important and deliberate and very wrong that should be corrected just so that we feel responsible about our broadcast,” she continued.
“In this case, Governor Noem just said ‘from Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs. The violence is rampant … people that can afford to flee have fled.’ Joining us for more on that and to essentially run a reality check on that assertion is the mayor of the great city of Seattle who is joining us on short notice.”
Joining Maddow over the phone, Durkin said the “caricature” of major U.S. cities “is not only wrong, it is purposefully wrong.”
“I think she needs to get off Twitter and get off Fox News and come see our city,” Durkin, who in June called the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in her city a “block party,” said. “Seattle is a city that I raise my two children in and I would not have raised them anywhere else. There are fine young men as are their friends. Our violent crime is down 5% this year. We have — people are not leaving Seattle. In fact, again, our housing prices continue to increase, and the people moving here are young families.”
“It’s not as portrayed by the president or by Governor Noem,” Durkin insisted later. “He tried to make it sound like there were mobs throughout Seattle. It’s not the case.” (RELATED: Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron At RNC: ‘The Politics Of Identity, Cancellation And Mob Rule Are Not Acceptable To Me’)
Just last week, several dozen rioters attacked the Seattle Police Officer Guild and threw “large” munitions, rocks and bottles at responding police, injuring six.