Trump’s tepid response worsens tragedy

The shocking violence in Charlottesville, Va. was a chance for President Donald Trump to help a nation heal. Instead, he made a domestic tragedy even worse.

After building his presidency on bluster, Trump can’t seem to shift to empathy, even after a woman was mowed down by a car driven through demonstrators.

Trump managed to find “many sides” to blame in that sickening event. In his initial statement, he could not bring himself to single out the white supremacists and neo-Nazis carrying torches and waving Confederate flags during their violence-stoking protest in Charlottesville.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides,” he tweeted on Saturday.

On Monday, after two days of prodding from people across the political spectrum, Trump took a stronger stance and finally said the words. “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neoNazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

Yet Trump’s hesitance will forever be remembered. He failed one of his first big tests of soothing a nation after an act of domestic terrorism. His beefed-up language was too little, too late.

Plus, it took Trump only 54 minutes Monday to rebuke the African-American CEO of Merck pharmaceuticals, who resigned from the president’s manufacturing council to protest his response to Charlottesville.

“Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Trump tweeted.

For any other president, now would be the time to fly to Charlottesville and soothe a city that saw hate turn to violence. The country’s leader should be on the ground, talking to political leaders and putting his arms around the loved ones of the dead and injured.

By doing so, he could reclaim the spot fouled by those who seek to divide us. And he could remind the world that the values of white supremacists are unacceptable in a nation where “all men are created equal.”

But could this president be trusted go to Charlottesville and not make matters worse? Could he rise to the standards of President George W. Bush after 9/11, President Reagan after the Challenger explosion, or President Obama after the South Carolina church shooting? And if not the president, who to send? Vice President Mike Pence was busy in Colombia over the weekend, trying to ease concerns about what the president meant in suggesting a potential “military option” in Venezuela.

The attorney general might be a logical choice, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 1986 lost a federal court appointment, in part because of questions about his commitment to defending civil rights. That said, however, the Department of Justice did open a civil rights investigation Saturday into the events in Charlottesville.

It’s hard to understand why the president was reluctant to criticize white supremacists. Does he really consider them a welcome part of his political base?

During the campaign, he initially balked at distancing himself from former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, who had backed his candidacy. And after Trump’s Saturday statement, a neo-Nazi website called the Daily Stormer posted this:

“Trump comments were good. He didn’t attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us. He said that we need to study why people are so angry, and implied that there was hate … on both sides!”

A forceful condemnation of racial divisiveness from white supremacists would have been Trump’s chance to put questions about cozying up to the KKK.

Instead, this insult-hurling president — who mocked a disabled reporter, questioned Sen. John McCain’s heroism and couldn’t say “Hillary” without adding “crooked” — went soft on the group that carried torches and displayed swastikas.

Free speech, along with the passions it can stir, was on full display in Charlottesville. It was and should be protected, no matter how upsetting the message may be.

But the president’s speech is also needed. He should use it to speak out against those trying to tear this country apart.