Donald Trump Shares Tweets Calling 'Fool' Ted Wheeler 'War Criminal,' 'Idiot Comic Relief'

President Donald Trump has attacked Ted Wheeler, calling him a "fool" and retweeting a series of posts slamming Portland's mayor, including one that called him a war criminal.

The president's early morning Twitter spree came following a man being shot dead on Saturday night, hours after a caravan of Trump supporters arrived in downtown Portland and clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters.

According to The Associated Press, the man who died appeared to be white and was wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a right-wing group whose members have previously clashed with Portland protesters.

Trump shared videos of the caravan on its way to Portland, calling its members "GREAT PATRIOTS," while calling Black Lives Matter protesters "disgraceful anarchists."

He also retweeted a video posted by Mike Baker, a reporter with The New York Times, which showed Trump supporters firing paintball pellets and pepper spray as protesters threw things at the caravan.

"The big backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected after 95 days of watching and incompetent Mayor admit that he has no idea what he is doing," Trump wrote alongside the clip. "The people of Portland won't put up with no safety any longer.The Mayor is a FOOL. Bring in the National Guard!"

Trump also retweeted without comment a Twitter account with the handle @HasTedResigned. "It is August 29, 2020, and Ted Wheeler has not yet resigned for committing war crimes," the tweet shared by the president said.

The president also retweeted a post that called Wheeler "the useless f**king idiot and comic relief that gets everyone killed in every disaster movie." Trump added alongside it: "Tone down the language, but TRUE!"

Another tweet shared by the president alleged, without evidence, that Wheeler had "assassinated a Patriot… through Antifa." Trump has regularly blamed antifa, an umbrella term for far-left-leaning activists that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations, for the violence seen in Portland and other places.

Last month, Trump said that he wanted to declare antifa a "terrorist organization" even though it is not an organization and its activists have never been proven to have killed anyone or carried out a terrorist attack.

Another tweet shared by the president included Wheeler's office phone number and urged people to call him to resign. "Ted Wheeler and the PPB have blood on their hands," yet another tweet shared by Trump said.

Alongside another video of clashes in Portland on Saturday night, Trump claimed: "Democrat "Leadership" has no clue. Request help now....Problem Over!!!"

Trump's latest attacks on Wheeler come after the mayor on Friday issued a blunt response to the president's offer to send federal troops to Portland to quell the ongoing unrest there. Nightly protests have taken place in Portland for more than three months since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with many of the demonstrations erupting into violence.

In a letter sent on Friday evening, Wheeler said his response, on behalf of the city, was: "No thanks."

Early that afternoon, Trump had tweeted, "Success: Since the National Guard moved into Kenosha, Wisconsin, two days ago, there has been NO FURTHER VIOLENCE, not even a small problem. When legally asked to help by local authorities, the Federal Government will act and quickly succeed. Are you listening Portland?"

Trump's tweet was referring to his deployment of almost 1,000 National Guard and over 200 federal law enforcement personnel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where violent protests broke out after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, last week.

But Wheeler said Trump's deployment of federal agents to Portland in July had "made the situation far worse."

"Your offer to repeat that disaster is a cynical attempt to stoke fear and distract us from the real work of our city," he wrote.

Wheeler added" "We don't need your politics of division and demagoguery. Portlanders are onto you. We have already seen your reckless disregard for human life in your bumbling response to the COVID pandemic. And we know you've reached the conclusion that images of violence or vandalism are your only ticket to reelection."