President Donald Trump said he was delivering “a message of unity” Tuesday night during his first address to a joint session of Congress.
But after a token condemnation of recent vandalism and attacks that appear motivated by “hate and evil,” the president quickly turned precisely to those elements of his agenda that sow division and threaten this country’s progress. He returned to his stump speech promises of draining the swamp, bringing back coal and building a border wall. He repeatedly turned his attention to immigrants, linking them to terrorism, blaming them for crimes and taking American jobs.
The president’s targeting of immigrants and lack of serious attention to the rising hatred in America are troubling.
Last week, a white man in Kansas shot two men who were originally from India. The shooter apparently believed the men were from Iran and shouted, “Get out of my country,” before opening fire at a bar in Olathe, Kansas, witnesses have said. Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed. Alok Madasani was wounded. Both worked as engineers at a Garmin plant in the town outside Kansas City.
Ian Grillot, a bartender at Austins Bar and Grill, was wounded when he intervened. He remains hospitalized.
“I was just doing what anyone should have done for another human being,” he told KMBC. “It’s not about where he’s from or his ethnicity.
“We’re all humans. So I just felt I did what was naturally right to do.”
Trump, meanwhile, has said nothing about the attack until he voiced a quick condemnation at the start of Tuesday night’s speech. He did not call the attack terrorism, the moniker Americans are quick to put on any violent act committed by people of Middle Eastern descent.
His downplaying of this crime is horrifying — and it empowers those who think along the same lines as the Olathe killer.
Trump had likewise been silent about vandalism at Jewish cemeteries, first outside St. Louis and, most recently, in Philadelphia.
Last week, Trump spoke out, finally, against a rash of threats to Jewish community centers. “The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” Trump told reporters last Tuesday.
The threats and vandalism keep coming. There have been more than 70 bomb threats against Jewish community centers, from Maine to California, so far this year. Although no bombs have been found, the phone calls instill fear and are disruptive, which is their intent.
Beyond condemning such attacks, Trump can take action — he can raise the profile and importance of ongoing FBI and Department of Justice investigations into the threats and Kansas killing. The FBI is still investigating whether the Kansas shooting qualifies as a hate crime. It is also investigating whether the Philadelphia cemetery vandalism is a hate crime.
Letters asking the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and the FBI to quickly address the continued threats to Jewish community centers are being circulated in the House and Senate. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King intend to sign the Senate letter. Rep. Chellie Pingree has signed on to a House letter asking the president to address the Jewish threats and cemetery vandalism.
Trump has been slow to distance himself from white supremacist groups and he chose Steve Bannon, who ran a website promoting white nationalism, anti-semitism and misogyny, as his chief strategist.
The sum of Trump’s actions, including his continued attacks on immigrants, negate a vague, seconds-long mention of crimes motivated by ethnic and religious hatred.