SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

We’re going to take a few minutes now to look at how President Trump has handled all of this. At difficult moments for the nation, it’s often the role of the president to deliver meaning, resoluteness and calm. Think of George W. Bush in the immediate wake of 9/11 as one recent example. This week, in the hours immediately after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Trump took a different approach. He blamed his political opponents.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.

DETROW: Trump said his administration would be coming for people and organizations that contribute to political violence. Newsportu senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith joins us now. Hey, Tam.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.

DETROW: You have covered Trump for a long time. This is, unfortunately, far from the first violent political act that he has had to respond to as president. So how does his handling here compare to the other times?

KEITH: Trump and members of his family were quite close to Charlie Kirk, so this attack was personal for Trump. And his response was immediately partisan. Compare that to what happened after the shooting at a congressional baseball team practice in 2017. In that case, Republican lawmakers were targeted by a man who had been a Bernie Sanders supporter. But in a scripted address, Trump took a very traditional approach and said the nation is strongest when we are unified.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: We may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation’s capital is here because, above all, they love our country.

DETROW: And, Tam, we have to talk about a big factor here – the president himself was shot at last summer at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Remind us of his rhetoric after that assassination attempt against him.

KEITH: Yeah, it was interesting because a lot of his supporters were really fast to blame left-wing rhetoric, but Trump was more restrained. And in that case, the ideology of the shooter, who was killed by police, is, to this day, still quite unclear. His list of potential targets included Democrats and Republicans.

DETROW: Like we said, unfortunately, a lot of examples to pick from, but I do want to ask about one recent example a lot of people have brought up this week, and that’s the targeted attacks on Minnesota Democrats this past summer that killed former House Speaker Melissa Hortman. How did Trump respond this summer after those shootings?

KEITH: Hortman and her husband were murdered. Another Democratic lawmaker was gravely injured. It was a targeted attack. Trump posted about the attack on social media, saying such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. But he didn’t get into the partisan nature of the targeting, and he hasn’t really mentioned it since.

DETROW: I mean, is it fair to say that he just downplays it when violence comes from the political right?

KEITH: Yeah, let me give you another example. In 2018, a Trump supporter who sent explosives to Democrats and also CNN was taken into custody. President Trump responded by praising law enforcement and criticizing the media for mentioning the suspect’s political affiliation. He said the media was using the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against him and Republicans.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: Yet, when a Bernie Sanders supporter tried to murder congressional Republicans and severely wounded a great man named Steve Scalise, and others, we did not use that heinous attempt at mass murder for political gain because that would have been wrong.

KEITH: So in 2018, he was saying a partisan response to a terrible crime would be wrong. But in this case, with the murder of Charlie Kirk, Trump is quite firmly sticking to his view that Democrats and harsh rhetoric on the left are to blame.

DETROW: You say quite firmly. Is it fair to say he has not softened his rhetoric since the alleged assailant was taken into custody?

KEITH: Right. He was on Fox & Friends yesterday, and Ainsley Earhardt gave him an opportunity to offer a unifying message.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “FOX AND FRIENDS”)

AINSLEY EARHARDT: How do we fix this country? How do we come back together?

TRUMP: Well, I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical ’cause they don’t want to see crime. They don’t want to see crime.

KEITH: So take that and then compare it to the way he describes the other side.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “FOX AND FRIENDS”)

TRUMP: The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious, and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.

KEITH: And in this way, Trump is like so many others in this polarized country who think their side is essentially fine and it’s the other side that’s evil. The difference, of course, though, is that he’s the president of the United States.

DETROW: Newsportu’s Tamara Keith, thank you so much.

KEITH: You’re welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF JIMIN SONG, “LIKE CRAZY”)

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