Donald Trump is heading for Pittsburgh on Tuesday over the express wishes of local officials, religious leaders, and the families of the victims. As TPM reports, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto was among those telling Trump to stay away until after the families have had a chance to get through the funerals and think about next steps.
Peduto: Once we get past that, I think there’s the opportunity for presidential visits.
Tens of thousands of Pittsburgh residents have signed a letter written by Jewish leaders in the city stating that Trump is not welcome until he firmly disavows white nationalists. Instead, Trump went on Fox News Monday night to defend his embrace of the term “nationalist” and defend continuing to use the term “globalists” for his opponents—a term that is known to be used to support conspiracy theories about secret Jewish control of governments.
Donald Trump’s visit to Pittsburgh at this point is such horrible optics that he reached out to Chuck Schumer to see if Schumer would go with him. He won’t. Trump has asked Nancy Pelosi, the focus of a thousand Republican attack ads, to come along. She said no. And that was just the start.
Not even Mitch McConnell will be Trump’s wingman on this one. Even a turtle shell is only so hard.