St. Petersburg mayor makes national headlines for Trump burn

rick kriseman st. pete mayor

This is Yuuuuge!

St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman’s tweet barring Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump from his city went viral, gaining the St. Pete politician worldwide fame and a lot more fans.

Kriseman tweeted Dec. 7, “I am hereby barring Donald Trump from entering St. Petersburg until we fully understand the dangerous threat posed by all Trumps.”

The tweet was picked up by national media including CNN and MSNBC, and even got a retweet from actor Minnie Driver.

“I love you Mr Mayor,” Driver said in her retweet.

Kriseman’s tweet was a response to Trump calling for a ban on Muslim travel into the United States.

“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” a campaign press release said.

Kriseman’s tweet has so far gotten over 22,000 likes and more than 20,000 retweets.

Kriseman was not available to speak with Watermark but his office issued a statement.

“The mayor’s social media remark was in jest, as he wished to highlight the ridiculousness of Mr. Trump’s policy proposal related to Muslims. St. Petersburg is a welcoming city of opportunity, where diversity is celebrated,” said the mayor’s communications director Benjamin Kirby in an email.

Kriseman told the Tampa Bay Times Dec. 7, that Trump’s statement was ridiculous and deserved an equally ridiculous response.

“There are some people who thought I was seriously going to ban Donald Trump from St. Petersburg, and that’s obviously not something I would try to do,” Kriseman said to the Times. “What I think makes St. Petersburg a great city and truly a city of opportunity is that we’re truly a diverse, tolerant community. There really isn’t a place for narrow mindedness and those kinds of positions.”

This is not the first time the St. Pete mayor has taken to Twitter to combat conservatives. This past August, after conservative radio personality Glenn Beck named St. Petersburg one of the least religious cities, Krisman tweeted, “Woke up, sun shining, & @glennbeck lumping #StPete in w/ Portland-San Fran-Seattle-Denver-Phoenix as cities to avoid. An honor! #ThanksGlenn.”

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