Trump On The Press Shooting - And The Press

We all know by now about the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette. The police are still investigating the details of the crime (motive and so on) so we'll get back to that when they've established something. (So no post hoc ergo propter hoc, here.)

Donald Trump, however, did tweet this:

Prior to departing Wisconsin, I was briefed on the shooting at Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Thank you to all of the First Responders who are currently on the scene.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018

Thoughts and prayers. A rather tepid response to the deaths of 5 people working in a constitutionally protected field, when you think about it.

Not so tepid, here:

This was Trump on Monday night calling the free press "the enemy of the people". #CapitalGazetteShooting pic.twitter.com/Dhscs5SE0V

— Matt Rogers (@Politidope) June 29, 2018

Or here a year and a half ago:

President Trump, in an extraordinary rebuke of the nation’s press organizations, wrote on Twitter on Friday that the nation’s news media “is the enemy of the American people.”

Even by the standards of a president who routinely castigates journalists — and who on Thursday devoted much of a 77-minute news conference to criticizing his press coverage — Mr. Trump’s tweet was a striking escalation in his attacks.

Then there's this:

Donald Trump ignored questions about the killing of five people at a newspaper in Maryland, walking silently past reporters at the White House as they asked him for “any words about the dead”.

The president did not respond when asked for “any words of condolence” for families of the victims of the shooting at the Capital Gazette's offices in Annapolis on Thursday.

Cold. Callous. Authoritarian. Donald Trump.