Trump condemns fatal Oregon stabbings; says victims stood against hate

[webfact]

Trump condemns fatal Oregon stabbings; says victims stood against hate

By Barbara Goldberg

REUTERS

 

Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, of North Portland, Oregon is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters May 27, 2017. Portland Police Bureau/Handout via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday condemned the fatal stabbings of two Good Samaritans who tried to stop a man from harassing a pair of women who appeared to be Muslim, in a tweet issued days after an advocacy group urged Trump to condemn the attacks it said his anti-Muslim rhetoric had encouraged.

 

A third man who also came to the aid of the women suffered serious wounds in the attack on a Portland commuter train on Friday, hours before the start of Ramadan, Islam's holy month. One of the women tearfully thanked the men for their sacrifice.

 

"The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them," Trump said in a Twitter message before taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Trump's tweet came days after the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the president to condemn the Oregon rampage and speak out against what the advocacy group sees as a rising tide of anti-Islamic sentiment. Anti-Muslim incidents increased more than 50 percent in the United States last year, it said.

 

Immediately after the stabbings, CAIR National Executive Nihad Awad said Trump has stirred up bigotry and racism "through his numerous statements, policies and appointments that have negatively impacted minority communities."

 

The suspect, Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, remained in custody on Monday and will appear in state court on Tuesday on aggravated murder and other charges.

 

A convicted felon from Portland, Christian was shouting ethnic and religious slurs to intimidate two women riding on a aboard a MAX light-rail train, according to one of the women and other witnesses.

 

"He told us to go back to Saudi Arabia and that we shouldn't be here and to get out of his country," said Destinee Mangum, who was on the train with a friend wearing a Muslim head scarf.

 

"He was telling us that basically we weren't worth anything and we should just kill ourselves," she said in a video posted on CNN's website on Monday.

 

Three men aboard the train intervened, with one of them saying, "You can't disrespect these young ladies like that," Mangum said in the video.

 

In a tear-choked voice, Mangum said she did not know the men and thanked them for putting their lives on the line.

 

"They lost their lives because of me and my friend and the way we look," Mangum said.

 

The FBI is investigating the stabbings to determine whether to possibly charge Christian with terrorism or a federal hate crime, said Portland FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele.

 

A Go Fund Me account set up for the families of the men killed in the attack raised more than $420,000 by midday Monday and another for the wounded man raised more than $175,000.

 

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Frank McGurty and David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-05-30

[stevenl]

Finally.

[sujoop]

So, FINALLY after 3 days and 21 tweets mostly about his usual self-boastings and  'boy who cried fake'  priorities, Trump belatedly got around to tweeting about this tragedy (likely shamed into doing so by public pleas from Dan Rather and many others including a Republican Senator).
 
As President and the highest office holder in the land (who also sets the societal tone), one cannot open a Pandora's box of hateful rhetoric and spew intolerance over months and months (and to some an implied  'permissibility' to act upon) and then defacto absolve oneself of taking any responsibility which their societal tone sets and what ensues.

 

Note the Mayor of Portland is calling on organizers of next week's 'Trump Free Speech Rally'  to call it off at this time (acknowledging the past rallies have been dominated by hate-speech etc which would not be appropriate, especially now as the heroes who stood up against hate-speech are buried)...Perhaps Trump could weigh in and tweet his agreement to postponing this rally (not likely).

Edited May 30, 2017 by sujoop

[darksidedog]

It is hardly surprising that an incident of this nature happened. Donalds hate filled rhetoric against Muslims was bound to stir up the unhinged in Society.

And now we have a situation where he is condemning an attack his own speeches have inspired. His condemnation tweet needed to go much further. Nowhere in it did he condemn violence or hate against people of any and all religions. So the racist whackos will believe it is okay to keep up religious hatred.

[Berkshire]

Good on Trump...if he actually wrote the tweet.

 

["The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them," according to the tweet, which was tweeted from the official POTUS account and not Trump's personal account.]

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/29/trump-portland-attack-white-supremacist-238918

 

[SneekyPete]

Dear Donald,

 

You're a day late and a dollar short.

[mtls2005]

Took a while, but then he's tired from his trip.

 

Luckily no gaffes on Memorial Day, "I prefer my soldiers have names."

[Emster23]

Not from Trump's personal tweet, and I doubt he wrote it. Features such as whole sentences, correct grammar are give aways. Besides, he didn't mention size of election victory and didn't use his typical "sad" or "loser" one word sentences.

[iReason]

A "Tweet" with 110 characters.

 

What a pathetic punk.

[Ramen087]

I find many of the associations between tweets, or comments or news stories and attacks like this to be off the mark. Why? Because people with extreme beliefs, fueled by a warped interpretation of religious texts, or social studies, political policies or anything similar never need a reason to do anything. All they need is an excuse, and those are a dime a dozen in today's internet based information world. 

 

Rational people looking for a reason for events like Portland, Paris, London etc will forever be searching... It all begins with an irrational system of ideas coalesced into a hateful philosophy, led by knowledgeable charlatans very well skilled in the art of recruiting the disaffected and motivating them to do their dirty work for them.

[Traveler19491]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

"The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them," Trump said in a Twitter message before taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Too little, too late. This is NOT a message designed to discourage future such acts of hate. This is nothing more than an attempt to defuse the criticism of his failure to respond. It is about as passive as one could possibly get.

 

"The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable." Seriously? Yeah, that ought to scare the crap out of the hate mongers. How about something a little more "Presidential", something with some actual backbone in it, like a press conference during which he makes a statement along the lines of, "What happened in Portland on Friday was the act of a coward determined to inflict his hatred on others. His actions reflect the cowardice of all purveyors of hate, be they the Ku Klux Klan, the Council of Conservative Citizens, the "alt-right", the deniers of the Holocaust, or any other individual or organization that seeks to deny rights to any person or group. None of these people reflect the true values of America. Values such as tolerance, inclusion, compassion, charity, and understanding. Their only value is hate, and, unfortunately, it appears that some have taken my words from the past to, in some way. indicate approval for their vile beliefs. It is time for such misunderstanding to stop. Therefore, effective immediately, my administration has notified the FBI, under the Federal Hate Crimes statute, to begin rigorous investigations into all incidents of hate perpetrated against minorities, and, when warranted, I have instructed the Department of Justice to vigorously prosecute such acts and to seek maximum sentences for any and all convicted of such crimes. I will no longer permit the actions of a few who are unable to accept that America is a land of freedom for all to terrorize anyone they don't approve of. Nor will I permit those same few to deny anyone the rights that our Founding Fathers bled and died for, and which so many have sacrificed their lives to defend. Understand that this administration recognizes your right to spew your vile beliefs via the spoken or written word, but should you cross the line and act on those beliefs, we will come for you, and we will not rest until you have been visited with the punishment you deserve. This is your only warning."

 

However, a message like this, that might actually have the effect of lowering the burgeoning incidents of hate crimes proliferating across the U. S. will never be broadcast from this White House or uttered by this pathetic piece of human detritus for the simple reason that were it ever to happen, his base would shrink significantly...overnight.

 

Trump, and by extension those who support him, need to realize that until he comes out with the same passion I indicated above, those of us who are able to hear his "dog whistles" will understand both his own bigotry and the heavy thread of racism that is woven throughout his base. We see vividly the approval that emanates from this White House for actions like these, and his whispers of disapproval like this disgusting little tweet notwithstanding, we get that he and too many among his base are more than happy to hear of and encourage such actions.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Traveler19491

[chilli42]

Clearly an adult told him to write the tweet .... and ended up having to correct the vocabulary and grammar.  Very sad.  Loser.

[ilostmypassword]

What Trump Tweeted While Not Condemning The White-Supremacist Murders in Portland

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-ahalf 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.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/29/donald_trump_tweeted_21_times_while_not_condemning_white_supremacist_portland.html

[nemrut]

This is why the US is such a frightening place despite its 1st world status - random acts of horrific violence that occur on a frequent basis.

[Ramen087]

19 hours ago, nemrut said:

This is why the US is such a frightening place despite its 1st world status - random acts of horrific violence that occur on a frequent basis.

Yup, so if you're outside the USA's borders, stay out. If you're inside those borders, get out.  Then you won't be so frightened any longer. 

[iReason]

6 minutes ago, Ramen087 said:

Yup, so if you're outside the USA's borders, stay out. If you're inside those borders, get out.  Then you won't be so frightened any longer.