At a press conference in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, President Trump expressed his regrets and resolve following the terrible massacre at a concert stadium in Manchester, England.
“So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers,” Trump said. “I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term – they would think that is a great name. I will call them, from now on, losers. Because that’s what they are: losers.”
The collective losers known as the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing shortly after Monday night’s attack, which reportedly left at least 22 people – many of them children – dead. In fact, according to SITE Intelligence Group, the terrorist organization instructed followers to “hunt your prey” in the hours preceding the explosion.
In comments coming out of the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency, the terrorists called the Ariana Grande concert that was the target of the massacre a “gathering of the Crusaders in the British city of Manchester…the shameless concert arena.” The release also characterized the victims of the attack as “worshippers of the cross,” an obvious reference to the Christian ethno-religious nature of many British citizens.
President Trump spoke out again in a speech at the Israel Museum, saying that the American people had the victims and their loved ones in their thoughts and prayers.
“You’ve seen a horrible thing going on,” Trump said. “Horrific, horrific injuries. Dozens of innocent people – beautiful young children – savagely murdered in a heinous attack upon humanity.”
He went on to say that it was up to every civilized nation to unite in the singular goal of destroying Islamist ideology.
“This trip is focused on that goal,” he said. “Bringing nations together around the goal of defeating the terrorism that threatens the world and crushing the hateful ideology that drives it so hard and seems to be driving it so fast.”
In the meantime, the rest of the world must once again ponder the latest horrifying loss of life and the root causes behind it. Because this was no lone psychopath who forgot to take his meds that morning. This was the latest in an unending movement of destruction that includes Nice, Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando, Boston, Brussels, New York City, Washington, D.C., and countless others. And there will be more. And the death and mayhem will only grow more terrible if we wait to take this problem seriously.
Thankfully, we seem to have a president who does. That alone is a big change. We’ll see soon if it’s enough.
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