As he prepares for his second inauguration, Donald Trump faces a great many challenges, but responding to the deadly attack in New Orleans shouldn’t have been one of them. On the contrary, this could have been, and should have been, incredibly easy.
In the world of presidential politics, there’s an obvious script to follow in the aftermath of such a tragedy: Leaders extend their sympathies, honor the victims and their loved ones, thank first responders, and vow to stand with the community as it takes steps to recover.
The president-elect apparently prefers a very different kind of script.
As the public first started learning the details of what happened in New Orleans, the Republican’s first instinct was to tell Americans how right he was, falsely suggest that the suspected terrorist — a U.S. Army veteran born in Texas — was an immigrant, followed by some demonstrably untrue claims about the national crime rates. By flunking tests of accuracy, decency and credibility, Trump reminded Americans that we just can’t count on him for reliable and trustworthy information in the wake of a tragedy.
Some of the Republican’s defenders have suggested that the misinformation he touted wasn’t entirely his fault: Fox News reported that the suspect had crossed over the border from Mexico earlier this week. The network soon after walked back its reporting, but Trump — relying on conservative media instead of intelligence briefings — left his original statement intact.
