Trump Repeats Lies About Pittsburgh Synagogue Protest — Lashes Out At Media

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
President Trump slammed protesters who opposed his visit to Pittsburgh after the synagogue mass shooting — and used the trip to bash the media at an election rally in Florida.
Trump belittled the protest as “small,” even though thousands marched through the Squirrel Hill neighborhood as he toured the Tree of Life synagogue with his wife and Rabbi Jeffrey Myers Tuesday.
“I turned on the news and watched as the far-left media once again used tragedy to sow anger and division,” Trump said, according to Politico. “Sadly, they took a small group of protesters [who were] far away from where we were.”
Marchers were actually within two blocks of the synagogue and reporters at the scene said the protesters’ chants and songs could clearly be heard when Trump and his entourage emerged from the synagogue where 11 people were killed on Saturday.
Trump went on to tell the Florida rally that the news media are “enemies of the people” for failing to report the news from his perspective.
Analysts blame Trump’s extremist rhetoric for inspiring attackers who are apparently obsessed with his distate for the media, promininent liberal rivals and immigrants.
Besides the synagogue shootings, a Trump supporter carried out a series of attempted pipe bomb attacks on prominent Democrats and CNN, a frequent target of Trump’s ire.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
