Trump in Pittsburgh: Many say visit not welcome
PITTSBURGH — President Donald Trump arrived in Pittsburgh on Tuesday as the city began to bury the victims of Saturday’s synagogue attack and as many officials and residents made clear his visit was not welcome.
As Trump arrived with the first lady, Melania Trump, as well as his daughter Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, about 1,000 protesters gathered on a leafy street near the synagogue in opposition to his visit.
Their signs read “Words matter” and “President Hate is not welcome in our state.” Although some people in Pittsburgh have pushed back on the idea that Trump has fomented an atmosphere of social division, many protesters had no doubt of what one called “the dotted line” between presidential rhetoric and violence.
Trump’s first stop was at the Tree of Life Synagogue, where he was greeted by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, the spiritual leader of the congregation. Trump and
the members of his family who accompanied him entered a vestibule to light candles for each of the 11 shooting victims. Outside the synagogue, Trump placed stones from the White House and white roses at a makeshift memorial comprised of white Stars of David bearing the victims’ names.
As the president and first lady
lingered outside, a crowd could be heard in the distance chanting “No more hate!”
The mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto, had said Monday that Trump should not come to the city while the community was just beginning to hold funerals for the fallen. The top four Republican and Democratic congressional leaders who were invited to join the president all declined.
The House speaker, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was unable to join the president on short notice, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate majority leader, had scheduling conflicts, according to aides. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leaders, also declined.
“This is not about a conflict of schedule,” Pelosi said in an interview. “It is about leaving the people the peace that they need to bury the dead and mourn the loss. I don’t think it would have been welcome for us to go there. I think that when invited, we should respond. When told not to come, we should not.”
Pelosi said she hoped Trump’s visit was not about “calling attention to him” and urged the president to temper his speech.
The White House gave no immediate explanation for why the president was determined to rush to the horror-stricken community over the objections of local leaders.
The president’s planned visit drew criticism — and prompted disagreement within Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.
Two Jewish groups had called on Trump to back down from inflammatory rhetoric that they said seemed to be encouraging the most radical fringes of American society. Some members of the congregations that were attacked have said they did not want Trump to come. Others, including Myers, said they would be glad for a visit from Trump.
“The president of the United States is always welcome,” Myers said on CNN on Monday. “I am a citizen. He’s my president. He is certainly welcome.”
Protests were held Tuesday afternoon in two locations. One was timed to coincide with Trump’s touchdown at the Pittsburgh airport. Approximately 2,000 people indicated on Facebook that they planned to attend.
Earlier Tuesday, before the president’s arrival, it seemed like nearly all of Pittsburgh had come to Rodef Shalom Temple, an elegant, domed 111-year-old building where the first funeral — a service for David and Cecil Rosenthal, two brothers — was held.
The crowd, which filled the large sanctuary to standing room, was racially diverse, made up of those stooped with age and crying infants, Jewish people — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and lapsed — and non-Jews, Pittsburgh natives and those who had flown in from elsewhere. Peduto was there, as were various other city officials and Scott Brady, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
The service began with a quiet procession of firefighters in dress uniform from Engine 18, a station not far from Tree of Life, where David Rosenthal would spend his afternoons. One by one, they came to the front of the sanctuary and quietly saluted the two simple wooden caskets.
David and Cecil, close brothers who were both developmentally disabled, were widely known as “two of the sweetest human beings you could ever meet,” Myers said.