More Funerals Today for Victims of Synagogue Attack
CAMEROTA: The president and his family visited Pittsburgh to pay their respects to the 11 Jews who were murdered inside their synagogue. They visited the Tree of Life, and they laid stones on Jewish stars and lit candles for the victims. They met with the widow of one of the victims as well as first responders who are still recovering in the hospital, but critics questioned the timing of President Trump's visit because the first funerals were just getting under way. Protesters demonstrated, calling out the president's divisive language. We're back with Chris Cillizza, John Avlon and Seung Min Kim. So Seung Min, let's talk about the reporting from this and whether or not this ended up being a good message for the president and for the community. Because the optics of it were fine. I mean, the president was with Rabbi Myers, who we've come to know on this program; and they did all sorts of respectful things. They had, obviously, a very somber expression. There wasn't any sound, really. But then you could see that there were many demonstrators who were calling for the president to talk about unity and not division. So what's the upshot?</s>KIM: So in terms of the optics, you're exactly right. The president and his wife, Melania, went and quietly paid their respects to the victims, met with one of the widows -- with one of the victims and did what they could to pay tribute in the best way that they know how. But it is -- you can't deny how this kind of tore open these political divisions over the president in this town in the city that is still very much grieving. Our reporters on the ground told us at essentially the same time that the president had touched down in Pittsburgh and was headed over to the synagogue, about 2,000 people had gathered in protest, just not long -- not far from the location where -- where some of the funerals had happened earlier in the day. And we talked to a lot of people there who were just really upset. The feelings were raw. It was too soon after the attack. Pittsburgh's own mayor said to the president, you know, "Please don't come until at least after we've buried all the victims from this." And one of the members -- one of the local officials we talked to, Congressman Mike Doyle, who actually represents the Squirrel Hill neighborhood where the synagogue is located, first of all, he was not contacted by the White House, which I think is notable. But he told us that he -- you know, many members of his community, his constituents feel that this was not the time for, quote, "a political photo shoot."</s>BERMAN: There were no elected officials there, Republicans or Democrats, despite some invites that went out, which is very unusual. Seung Min, just very quickly, you were with the president on Saturday when this happened, the morning, or the day after it happened, the attack happened. He was -- you know how he was trying to calibrate, the difficulty he had calibrating his tone and his message all day.</s>KIM: Yes, it was actually -- yes, I was traveling with the president, I mean, as -- soon after the shootings had occurred and through had stops in Indiana and Illinois throughout the day, he wanted to get his message out. He -- he took this tone of -- that these were horrible acts, that he was horrified by them, that anti- Semitism is despicable. But it was sometimes jarring just, you know, standing several feet from him and traveling with him, to go from that message and then go, you know, and to watch him pivot to this campaign tone that we've seen so much from him and that we'll see from him for the next several days. We -- he told us, traveling on Air Force One, that at one point earlier in the day, that he was considering canceling the political rally that he had planned for in Illinois. But it wasn't long after he made that declaration that he announced to a crowd in Indiana -- he was speaking to a Future Farmers of America convention -- that "Look, I'm not going to cancel. We're going to go ahead with the schedule that we had planned, because if we had canceled everything, that allows the terror to win out." And that was his message. It did seem to resonate with the supporters who had -- who had gathered -- who had gathered to see him that day. But it was jarring at times to see him go from this very, you know, solemn Trump to, you know, campaign Trump.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, jarring is obviously one good word, and hypocritical is another good word; because it's not just going to the events. It's the words that he speaks at the event, John, and whether or not those are unifying or divisive.</s>AVLON: Right. Well, the president has made the perfunctory unifying remarks, but he reverts to the mean, himself at rallies and on Twitter. That's the authentic president. And one of the reasons they chose, you know, yesterday to do this visit, and I think it -- it was a sincere and solemn visit and it was -- you know, he walked with his Jewish daughter and son-in-law. That speaks to a connection in the community that is sincere and personal, is that rallies begin today, and they'd want to avoid those optics again, because he's going to double down on the message he's chosen, which is not being a uniter. He is a divider. That is his brand. That is his approach to politics. It is not fitting the role of comforter in chief. It is smaller than in many of the times we're seeing. And Democrats will respond with "Bridges, not walls." But this is -- you know, this rally he's going to be on, this is going to be back to the greatest hits arena rock tour, and he's appropriately ending, by the way, in Cape Girardeau, Rush Limbaugh's hometown.</s>BERMAN: He did take a day off. I mean, yesterday he was not on Twitter --</s>AVLON: That's right.</s>BERMAN: -- attack, after the early morning, pretty much anybody. And he did do this, and this was not a political -- overtly political visit, Chris. But I guess the question is, you know, is that "Brigadoon"? Is that one day and then we won't see it again for 100 years?</s>CILLIZZA: I actually think, look, the -- first of all, to answer your question directly, yes. John is right. You are who you are, and we know who Donald Trump is; and he's not the uniter in chief. He is not empathetic in any meaningful way. That said, any -- this is a difficult moment in terms of the balancing the political -- the role of empathizer in chief and sort of -- you're the head of your party, because we are so close to an election. So most presidents would go, at some point, to Pittsburgh. The -- but with the election this close, Donald Trump wants to get out there on the campaign trail. So you have these at loggerheads; it's difficult to figure that out. But it makes it much more difficult because of who he is, and John touched on this. He's just not that guy. You -- when he's giving a talk, you know, making remarks in the immediate aftermath of Pittsburgh, you can see him reading from the teleprompter, he generally says the right things. The problem is that that's not it. There's Twitter. There's comments he makes to reporters off-hand. There's the campaign rallies. And there is that jarring nature there. But remember, the campaign rally Trump is Trump. The last two years, three years have proven that out beyond a shadow of a doubt.</s>BERMAN: Chris Cillizza, Seung Min Kim and John Avlon, thank you all very much. Great to have you all here this morning. If you want to help the families of the victims, go to CNN.com/impact.</s>CAMEROTA: Notorious mob boss Whitey Bulger has been killed in his prison cell. What investigators say happened there, next.