During times of national tragedy, our leaders (especially our presidents) attempt to bring together people of all backgrounds and political ideologies. They stand in front of a frightened and grieving nation to support the process of recovery, healing, and moving forward.

We experienced the strong and unifying words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt throughout his tenure in the depths of the Great Depression and in the days leading up to World War II following “a day that will live in infamy.”

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President George W. Bush strove to model a comforting reassurance and resolve directly following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, working to unify people of all political parties in mobilizing against the perpetrators.

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Following the police shooting death of an unarmed Black boy, Treyvon Martin, President Barack Obama showed us a rare glimpse into his own pain as an opportunity to inform the nation of the realities of the Black experience in the United States.

“You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot. I said that this could have been my son.  Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” he said as he wiped away a tear. “And when you think about why, in the African American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here. I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.”

Throughout Bill Clinton’s presidency, he stood with self-assurance and poise in front of cameras in the White House press room so often following gun violence that many of us lost count. The role of Consoler-in-Chief has been virtually inscribed into the job description of the modern presidency.

Only a few hours into 2025, a suspected terrorist plowed over scores of innocent and joyous New Year’s revelers down several blocks of Bourbon Street, a famous street in the New Orleans French Quarter. 14 individuals were killed, dozens more were injured, and two police officers were shot by the perpetrator, who was himself killed by additional officers at the scene.

President Joe Biden, who has suffered several personal tragedies, showed his typical compassion in his initial statements after the carnage: “I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury,” Biden said. “I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.”

“In the meantime, my heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday,” he continued. “There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”

In his remarks on Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump, gave a few appropriate remarks: “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”

Unsurprisingly, Trump went on to exploit this tragedy to further divide the nation with xenophobic vitriol and blatant lies long before the facts of the case were released: “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”

FBI officials have determined that the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was a former member of the U.S. military from Texas, born and raised in the United States.

The suspect was not an immigrant, and according to the FBI 2024 Quarterly Crime Rates and Use-of-Force data report, crime rates have fallen: “…January through June 2023 and 2024 indicates reported violent crime decreased by 10.3%. Murder decreased by 22.7%, rape decreased by 17.7%, robbery decreased by 13.6%, and aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%. Reported property crime also decreased by 13.1%.”

Rather than stepping into the role of Consoler-in-Chief-elect, Donald Trump has continued in his ever-expanding role of Liar-in-Chief and Blamer-in-Chief.

The president-elect continued on Truth Social (which, by the way, is neither truthful nor social): “With the Biden ‘Open Border’s Policy’ I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe.”

Then his tone turned extremely nasty: “That time has come, only worse than ever imagined. Joe Biden is the WORST PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA, A COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER. What he and his group of Election Interfering ‘thugs’ have done to our Country will not soon be forgotten! MAGA”

Trump also called the US “a laughingstock all over the World!”

He claimed, “The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job. They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.”

While Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously announced that “The only thing to fear is fear itself,” Donald Trump has apparently turned this quote around to, “During the next four years, the only thing we have to fear is Donald Trump himself in his words and actions.”

His threats of “mass deportations” (one of two of his major agenda proposals throughout his first presidential campaign, first term in office, and throughout his second and third campaigns) can more properly be called “nasty-portations” since they are based on a xenophobic, racist, and white nationalist platform.

Trump’s other primary agenda item of villainizing and dehumanizing Muslims has certainly gained steam with the latest apparent terrorist attacks in New Orleans and at his international hotel in Las Vegas. But to stereotype and scapegoat all followers of Islam for the events of 9/11 or the recent attacks is as invalid as blaming all Christians for the despicable actions perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who was involved in the so-called “Christian Identity” movement. 

By contrast, our nation and world recently lost one of our greatest humanitarians, who spread love, compassion, and empathy in his work to establish peace and end suffering during his presidency and his 44 years after leaving the Oval Office.

Jimmy Carter showed us what committed and effective public service truly can be. Though Carter was unique, he was not “one-of-a-kind.” Hopefully, his work will inspire others, inside and outside of public office, to follow his lead.

Regretfully, the old orange dog, Donald Trump, is incapable of learning the new tricks of developing compassion and empathy and repairing a severely divided nation.

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