Trump Slammed for Delayed Response to Portland White Supremacist Attack
President Trump was criticized for waiting three days to respond to the fatal stabbing of two people who intervened to stop an anti-Muslim rant in Portland.
"The violent attacks in Portland on Friday are unacceptable. The victims were standing up to hate and intolerance. Our prayers are w/ them," Trump tweeted from the official @POTUS account.
On Friday afternoon, a man — later identified as 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian — started yelling anti-Muslim hate speech on a Portland train. His rant was directed at two women wearing hijabs.
53-year-old Ricky John Best and 23-year-old Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche were killed trying to stop Christian.
According to the Washington Post, the suspect had a history of making white supremacist posts on Facebook.
Although Trump is usually fast to condemn acts performed by Muslims, his three-day delay to comment on the portland attack drew criticism
Others believed the tweet from the official @Potus account was penned by someone else in the Trump administration
Trump's personal Twitter account has nearly twice as many followers as the official presidential account, which caused many to question if he wanted to keep his remarks away from his support base.
In addition, journalist Dan Rather penned an open letter to Trump criticizing the delay in his remarks.
"They were brave Americans who died at the hands of someone who, when all the facts are collected, we may have every right to call a terrorist."
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