The Slatest

President of United States Waits Nearly Three Days to Condemn Racist Portland Murders

Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally on Oct. 29 in Golden, Colorado.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Donald Trump issued a generic Twitter statement Monday morning addressing the horrific murders of two men by a white supremacist in Portland, Oregon, on Friday evening.

It wasn’t exactly an impassioned defense of peace, tolerance, and liberalism, much less an exaltation of the heroism displayed by the men who were slain. The Trump tweet, from the POTUS account, came after the president faced increasing pressure to issue a public statement on the stabbing deaths of the two men trying to stop the harassment of young Muslim women, one who was wearing a hijab, on the city light rail Friday.

For a candidate that became a darling of the white nationalist fringe, thrusting them closer to the mainstream of American life, the absence of a statement lauding the bravery of the citizens who stepped in to try to stop a raving racist lunatic was particularly conspicuous. The president returned from his trip abroad Saturday and still waited another day and a half to make an official statement.

If you thought perhaps the president was busy doing presidential things during that time, here is a sampling of the 21 tweets he had time to fire off while he was not condemning the racist attack and standing with Americans who gave their lives to stop an episode of violent bigotry.

An interesting insight into a president’s priorities.