A day after Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter blasted Donald Trump, calling him an "a--hole" and comparing Trump's words to Hitler's, the Republican presidential hopeful fired back and said Nutter is a "low life."
Trump tweeted at Nutter on Wednesday, using the wrong Twitter handle for the Philadelphia mayor, saying Nutter is doing a bad job and should be ashamed.
Trump's response comes the day after Nutter called Trump an "a--hole" in front of religious leaders during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
"Donald Trump's comments are a threat to the moral security of the United States of America," Nutter said. "It engenders a level of fear mongering that we have not seen literally since the 1930s and 1940s. He has taken a page from the playbook of Hitler, demonize a group, blame that group for a country’s problems and then seek to ban or eliminate that group as some kind of solution to a problem that does not exist. This is in fact a very dangerous form of American radicalization."
Nutter then apologized to members of the religious community for his offensive language, adding, "How can I take seriously any foreign policy idea from someone like him? It's impossible. He has no idea what he's talking about."
Nutter said Wednesday that his mother wasn't happy with Nutter's choice of words but that he stands by his comments. Nutter added that Trump should learn how to tweet considering he used the wrong Twitter handle.
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"If you're going to tweet at someone you should actually use the correct Twitter handle," @Michael_Nutter fired back at City Hall Wednesday. "If you're going to be a serious candidate... running for the highest office in the United states of America then you have to be a grownup in a conversation and not say things just for electoral vote getting or TV ratings."
Trump, a business mogul and GOP front-runner, on Monday proposed blocking Muslims from entering the U.S. "until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses." His suggestion was quickly condemned by other Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.
Trump's proposal came as a Philadelphia mosque manager discovered a bloody pig's head that someone had thrown at the building. During the Tuesday afternoon press conference, Nutter condemned the incident, calling on Philadelphians to show tolerance toward the Muslim community.
He then turned his criticism toward Trump and didn't back down when asked whether it was unfair to compare Trump to Hitler.
"No," he said. "This is the same tactic and strategy. Find an enemy, convince people they're the enemy, blame every problem on them and then try to get rid of them."
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Nutter said he was also concerned for those who support Trump's comments.
"Donald Trump is literally trying to radicalize our fellow Americans against our American Muslim and international Muslim brothers and sisters," he said.
