In reaction to Tuesday's terrorist attack in Brussels, GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz released a statement recommending that "we need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized,” the New York Times reported.
In a rare instance of the NYPD wading into national politics, the department's communications officer J. Peter Donald tweeted in response:
Hey, @tedcruz are our nearly 1k Muslim officers a "threat" too? It's hard to imagine a more incendiary, foolish statement
— J. Peter Donald (@JPeterDonald) March 23, 2016
Fellow Tweeters had a wide range of reactions to Donald's tweet, some in support, some unprintable.
Several outlets report that the presidential candidate met with Metropolitan Republican Club on the Upper East Side on Tuesday. DailyCaller.com reports that Cruz spoke to about 100 constituents gathered there about the critical nature of the New York primary.
"We are competing vigorously to earn votes and to earn delegates here in New York with a very strong grassroots team on the ground. We believe we can compete very effectively in New York, congressional district by congressional district,” he told DailyCaller.com.
Donald isn't the first New Yorker to publicly protest Cruz and his public statements. In April 2015, owners of The Out — a hotel branded as being friendly to the LGBTQ community — were boycotted after it became known that they met with Cruz, who last year introduced legislation to allow states to ban gay marriage.
