After the shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, many politicians condemned the violence and blamed divisive political rhetoric around the country. (Jenny Starrs /The Washington Post)
President Trump’s immediate response to the killing of 11 people at a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, offered as he headed to Indiana for an event on Saturday, focused on the motivation of the alleged shooter.
“It’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country,” he said, “frankly, and all over the world. And something has to be done. Something has to be done.” Then his focus shifted: The attack was even deadlier than publicly reported at the time and, in response to a question from a reporter, that there was not necessarily cause to revisit gun laws.
“If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better,” he said. “This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect.”
View the complete October 30 article by Philip Bump on the Washington Post website here.