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A memorial is seen outside the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh. When President Trump arrives, he should meet with members of the local Jewish community.
Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
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Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
A memorial is seen outside the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh. When President Trump arrives, he should meet with members of the local Jewish community.
Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
President Trump plans to travel to Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon as the city continues to mourn the Saturday massacre that killed 11 worshipers in a synagogue.
When Trump arrives, he should meet members of the local Jewish community. But the visit comes despite the wishes of some political and religious leaders who felt that the president should come later – or not at all.
The visit takes place on the same day as the first funeral of the victims of the Tree of Life synagogue.
The city's Democrat Mayor Bill Peduto urged the president not to come while friends and families were burying their loved ones.
"I think it would be better for us to focus on families this week and, if he chose to come, choose a different time to do it," Peduto told CNN.
In an interview broadcast on Fox News on Monday, Trump said he wanted to travel to Pittsburgh to pay him tribute and that he planned to visit the police and the wounded at the hospital.
"I'm really looking forward to going there," Trump said. "I could have done it even earlier, but I did not want to disturb more than they already had."
The president's skeptics wonder how he can "express his support for the American people and mourn with the Pittsburgh community," as the White House wanted, while continuing to use a speech that divides the opponents that it considers as political enemies.
At a press conference Monday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, press officer at the White House, insisted that the president only wanted to unite the country, noting that some of his grandchildren, his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were all Jewish.
"The president cherishes the American Jewish community for all he represents and contributes to our country.He loves Americans of Jewish descent as a member of his own family," Sanders said.
Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh, affiliated with the progressive group Bend the Arc, wrote an open letter urging the president to stay away until he opened up to certain communities, including those of Jewish confession.
"President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you denounce fully white nationalism," the letter says.
"Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted, you have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities."
But others praised his reaction to the massacre.
Matt Brooks, executive director of the BC-based Republican Jewish Coalition, told CNN that Trump's condemnation of anti-Semitism was "very powerful and strong."
At a service held Monday at Carnegie Mellon University, one kilometer from the scene of the shooting, many members of the community are still shocked and greeted with hugs of tears.
Some simply did not want to talk about Trump's visit, saying it was not the time to go into politics. Others have expressed their fear of a confrontation between those who support the president and those who do not wish it.
Joel Greenhouse, a professor of statistics at Carnegie Mellon University, is optimistic and upbeat. Trump could play the role of chief comforter.
"If he could, that would really be a source of inspiration," Greenhouse said.
"And if that's not the result, it's probably best to let ourselves be left alone, and we're doing a very good job, I think."
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