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

By Dave Goldiner November 1, 2018

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.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at goldiner@forward.com, or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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