Rep. Adam Schiff of California on Sunday said President Trump preaches unity in the wake of the tragedy but flirts with danger every morning by stoking divisions on Twitter and mocking George Soros, a prominent Jewish donor for Democrats and target of political attacks from the GOP.
“Honestly, I think this president’s whole modus operandi is to divide us,” Mr. Schiff, a Democrat, told CNN’s State of the Union, one day after a gunman killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue while making anti-Semitic comments.
Mr. Schiff said the American people have a “collective responsibility” to reel in hatred, yet “no one sets the the tone more than the president of the United States.”
The congressman said the president has failed to lead.
“It’s going to fall on all the rest of us to make this a more perfect union,” Mr. Schiff said.
President Trump condemned the anti-Semitic attack on Saturday and tweeted that Americans must “unite to conquer hate.”
Yet his critics say he’s been too willing to flirt with nefarious voices, citing his reference to honorable people on “both sides” of the riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.
Mr. Schiff said it’s also “no accident” that Republicans have targeted Mr. Soros, a wealthy Hungarian-American who donates to liberal candidates and is also Jewish, as a boogeyman ahead of the mid-term elections.
Mr. Soros was the first in a line of prominent liberals and Democratic officials to receive pipe bombs in the mail.
No one was injured in the mailings, and officials arrested a suspect — Cesar Sayoc — in Florida on Friday.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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