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No Need to Be Alarmed: A Picture of Leadership.

 

Oh, Donald Trump. Somehow, you’ve managed, once again, to anger a large population of America’s closest political ally, people who otherwise like us.

It only took a reckless, thoughtless tweet to strain relations with yet another large group of people.

At a time when people were looking to the president for reassurance, for support, they instead found scorn, self-promotion and insult. Donald Trump, you’ve lost yet another opportunity to show grace and dignity in a sensitive moment. Instead, all you’ve proven once again is just how much you lack those qualities.

Some Background

London recently suffered a terror attack when a truck plowed into unsuspecting citizens on London Bridge. Knife-wielding terrorists attacked and stabbed people indiscriminately. The result was seven deaths and 48 injuries. All of the terrorists were shot dead by police within eight minutes of being called.

The news spread across television and social media outlets. Before the full details of the attack were known, our Commander-in-chief decided to use the incident to further a political agenda:

“We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!”

Londoners found it particularly insulting that the U.S. president would use their tragedy as a way to further an already controversial executive order. Many people feel the Travel Ban unfairly targets people because of their religion. Such a tweet in the aftermath of a terror attack on our ally is, at the very least, in poor taste.

A Mayor Shows Better Leadership Than U.S. President

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was interviewed after the attack. In an effort to reassure Londoners that they were being protected, Mayor Khan said, among other things, “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days.”  He added that there was “no reason to be alarmed” by the sight of the additional police officers.

And, of course, Mr. Trump, you took his comments out of context, and tweeted:

“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed.’”

Mr. Trump, I ask you to consider the fact that at a time when you could have shown your support for Mayor Khan and London as a whole, you instead chose to ignite anger. You’ve offended Londoners and embarrassed the United States in the process.

And just in case that wasn’t bad enough, about 10 minutes later, you just had to inject the American gun control argument into a conversation about an overseas terrorist attack:

“Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That’s because they used knives and a truck!”

Shameful.

The Wrath of the People

This debacle earned the wrath of people all over the world, including a barrage of critical tweets from other politicians, celebrities and regular citizens. One of the common responses was the ridiculousness of the inadvertent suggestion that guns might have made the situation better.

Trump, you’ve been scoffed at by many for suggesting visiting London to show support. I can assure you, your visit would likely only cause protest.

Texting and tweeting leave quite a bit of room for misunderstanding. In text, we are unable to see mood, sarcasm or humor — or otherwise know the intent of the message. If we fire back to a written message after we have misunderstood it, there will inevitably be conflict.

President Trump, you now have quite a history of offensive and controversial tweets that have alienated possible supporters. You’ve embarrassed yourself and your supporters, and even the people who voted for you should expect better than this. It’s reached the point where your staff has to make efforts to keep you off of Twitter during big events. Might I suggest getting off of Twitter altogether?

J.K. Rowling said it best: “It’s called ‘leadership,’ Donald. If we need an alarmist blowhard, we’ll call.”

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Kate Harveston

Kate Harveston

Kate Harveston is a freelance writer and blogger. Her work focuses on health and culture. When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found curled up in her hammock with a book or exploring the city for trendy coffee shops. You can visit her blog, So Well, So Woman to read more of her work and receive a free subscriber gift!
Kate Harveston