New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) says he will no longer be going around calling GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump a "blowhard" because it downplays how "dangerous" he is to this country.
In late November, de Blasio sharply criticized Trump for saying he'd be open to creating a database of Muslim Americans. In an interview on WOR 710 in New York, the mayor said Trump is a "blowhard" who is saying things "that play right into ISIS's hands."
Trump, a native New Yorker, didn't appreciate the mayor's remarks, as he made clear on Twitter.
In 2013, Trump actually predicted de Blasio would "end up being a good mayor, maybe a very good mayor."
De Blasio went back on that radio show Tuesday and said his earlier comments were not the best choice of words.
"I realized that day -- and I remember that interview well -- that that was really the wrong term to use, and it minimized the danger of what he's saying. And I quickly realized I had to change my language and start saying that what he’s doing is dangerous. And a lot of other voices have come to the same conclusion," de Blasio said.
"He has systematically affronted one group after another -- women, Mexican-Americans, Muslims -- and then he started to say things that are positively un-American, like having Muslims on a list and not allowing people into the country based on a religion test," he added.
In early December, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" following deadly terror attacks involving Islamic extremists in California and France.
"He's now become dangerous, but I also think more and more people, including a lot of Republicans, are very, very concerned about what he's saying, and more and more people are speaking out against it," de Blasio concluded.
The feud between de Blasio and Trump has been going on for months. This summer, de Blasio went after Trump for disparaging undocumented immigration and questioning the military service of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. De Blasio said the city was reviewing its contracts with the real estate developer and wouldn't do any more business with him (which may not actually be possible).
De Blasio is backing Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president.
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26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2013
While @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2012
.@cher should spend more time focusing on her family and dying career!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2012