Trump Just Used London’s Tragedy To Attack His Political Opponents
In an act that would be seen as a disgusting low for any politician in American history, President Trump fired off a series of tweets this morning exploiting yesterday’s attacks in London to score points against an array of political opponents.
Disturbingly, for this President, the appalling behavior has become business as usual. It is, however, anything but normal.
In the first of three early morning tweets, Trump was just warming up with a relatively indirect accusation, nonsensically blaming yesterday’s loss of life on political correctness — a thinly veiled stand-in for liberals:
We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don't get smart it will only get worse
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
Next, Trump lobbed an assault at London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan who now leads the security efforts of a city in mourning:
At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
What Khan actually said was, “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed.” He was urging citizens not to be alarmed by the police presence.
By taking Khan out of context to malign an innocent man with an unfounded attack over the deaths of the very citizenry he leads, Trump has put on a truly shameful display and betrayed his true motives — disparaging Islam (Khan is Muslim).
Still, Trump was not finished. In arguably his most ignorant tweet of the day (so far), the President went after those working to combat gun violence:
Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2017
Trump is right that guns are not the only things that can be used for murder, and no one would argue otherwise. But that does not negate more important questions.
How many more innocents would have died yesterday if a firearm had been used? How many Americans would have survived Santa Barbara or Aurora if knives had been the most accessible weapon? How many children could have been saved had the assailant in Newtown not been able to acquire anything as deadly as an AR-15 assault rifle.
There are also things we do not have to question also. Knives never fire stray bullets that kill sleeping children. And the President of the United States exploiting tragedy to level false and vile attacks is absolutely unacceptable.
