WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump, rather than taking on the traditional task of unifying the nation after a deadly shooting rampage, reverted to his usual rhetoric Monday morning, attacking the media as "the true Enemy of the People" and stirring up fear of immigrants.
His message: Blame the media, not what observers see as his own divisive comments and tweets, for the country's highly partisan and increasingly dangerous political climate.
"There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame," Trump tweeted.
Two hours later, the president sent out another tweet about the caravan of Central American migrants he has succeeded in making a campaign issue ahead of next week's midterm election.
"Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border. Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!"
The president has condemned the mailing of potentially explosive devices, allegedly by an ardent Trump supporter, to several Democrats and other Trump critics. And he decried the anti-Semitism that seemed to motivate the suspect accused of shooting to death 11 people inside a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning.
But he went ahead with his political rally Saturday, just hours after the deadly shooting, criticized a prominent Jewish critic by name along with "globalists" _ a word that has a long history in anti-Semitic propaganda _ and even tweeted World Series commentary before the day was over.
"Very interesting!" Trump wrote just before midnight Saturday as he retweeted a video interview with Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative commentator who often promotes conspiracy theories and months ago sparked a firestorm for retweeting an anti-Semitic hashtag. Trump pardoned D'Souza, who pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in 2014, earlier this year.
And Trump has continued his efforts to portray a caravan of migrants still 1,000 miles from the U.S. as a violent, Democrat-organized mob about to storm across the border. Such false characterizations, repeated by many conservative media outlets, reportedly influenced Robert Bowers, the alleged synagogue shooter. Bowers' online postings expressed rage toward a Jewish organization that helps settle immigrants and refugees in the U.S.
Bowers described the migrant caravan as an "invasion," the same word Trump used in his tweet Monday.
Trump's first comments about the shooting sounded more like a news commentator, not a president tasked with calming an anxious, divided nation.
"It looks like the results are coming in and they're far more devastating than anybody originally thought in the morning," Trump told reporters as he boarded Air Force One midday Saturday. "In the morning, they thought that it was a shooter but they had the shooter, or they soon would. But the results are very devastating. You're seeing the numbers come in."
David Gergen, an adviser to presidents of both parties dating back to the Nixon administration, said Trump's view of his role in such crises is a notable departure.
"It's like he a bystander. He's watching the game on the field," he said.
"Donald Trump is the first in living memory who seems to believe that leadership is about bringing those passions to a boil," Gergen said. "That has won him some support with portions of our politic, but my own sense is that most Americans much prefer unity over disunity, civility over incivility and that these will ultimately come back to haunt the president."
Gergen pointed to previous presidential efforts to unify the country after national tragedies, such as President George W. Bush engaging with rescue workers at the wreckage of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11, and President Bill Clinton meeting survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Trump has not had many such moments, and his reactions to violence and tragedies have been heavily criticized. After the deadly 2017 clash between white supremacists and antifascist counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., Trump said there were good people on "both sides" of the protests. While visiting hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, he casually tossed paper towel rolls into a crowd.
Eleven Pittsburgh Jewish leaders Sunday penned a letter to Trump, telling the president very directly that, despite his condemnations of the attack, he is "not welcome" in their city.
"For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement," the letter stated. "You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday's violence is the direct culmination of your influence."
