Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto told Donald Trump to stay out of his city until the families of the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting attack can mourn.
Trump and the First Lady are scheduled to visit Pittsburgh on Tuesday, despite the fact that officials, like the mayor, are urging him not to.
In an interview on MSNBC, Peduto said, “I would prefer if he would wait until we have had the opportunity to have all of the funerals.”
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The Pittsburgh mayor shares his thoughts about Trump’s planned visit to his city following this weekend’s mass shooting attack. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/YMDeE0nczP
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Peduto said:
I would prefer if he would wait until we have had the opportunity to have all of the funerals. We are planning them out starting tomorrow and then going all the way through Friday. That’s where our priority is in Pittsburgh. We are trying to take care of the families and the victims and are coordinating our efforts around that. Obviously, we are going to need a lot of security at those locations as well as security that’s been placed at schools and synagogues and other of our Jewish communities, larger facilities. And there’s a lot of work that comes into planning a presidential visit and it would just be better to let the focus of attention be with the families tomorrow and not trying to detract it or place it somewhere else.
Donald Trump isn’t capable of consoling people
It’s not only the timing that is bad for a presidential visit. It’s also the fact that Donald Trump simply isn’t capable of assuming the role of consoler-in-chief following national tragedies.
It would be one thing if Trump was capable of showing compassion and empathy after such attacks. But time and again, he has shown that he doesn’t have it in him to do that – whether it’s after natural disasters, violent white supremacist rallies or previous mass shootings.
The best thing Trump can do after any tragedy – particularly since his reckless rhetoric contributed to it – is to stay home and be quiet.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
