Day 459: Trump remains silent as mass shooting fails to line up with narrative

A man suspected of being a white supremacist walked into a Waffle House near Nashville, Tennessee early Sunday morning and opened fire, killing 4 and injuring at least 2 more. But for the incredible actions of an unarmed civilian hero, the carnage would have been a lot worse.

Police said James Shaw Jr., 29, a restaurant patron, managed to wrestle the firearm from the shooter. “Shaw’s actions undoubtedly saved many lives,” they said in a statement Sunday night.

Shaw, his hand bandaged, said at the news conference that he made up his mind to confront the gunman and “that if it was going to come down to it, he was going to have to work to kill me.”

“That was my opportunity, and I went for it,” he later added.

Waffle House hero James Shaw reveals an arm he believes was grazed in his scuffle with the shooter and sports bandages on his hand from grabbing the red-hot rifle.

Despite the random act of violence gaining prominent national attention, Donald Trump hasn’t said a word, likely because it doesn’t line up with any narrative. The shooter was white and was wrestled to the ground by an unarmed hero.

In June 2017, after attacks in London left 8 victims dead, Trump immediately used Twitter to push for more immigration changes in the U.S.

After a terrorist killed 8 and injured 11 in New York in November 2017, Trump used it as a platform to call out U.S. immigration policies.

And after an undocumented worked was acquitted of killing a woman in California, Trump tweeted that a border wall was needed immediately.

The pattern for Trump has been simple: one person from a non-white ethnic group does something or is accused of something and everyone must suffer. In his mind, one Muslim terrorist means a wholesale Muslim ban. One undocumented worker acquitted of murder means a wall.

But he’s been remarkably quiet since the Tennessee shooting, just as he was after a white, pro-Trump terrorist left 6 mosque-goers dead and another 19 injured in Quebec City in January 2017.

In both cases, the victims were people of color and the shooters white. In both cases, the shooters were citizens perpetrating domestic terrorism. In both cases, Trump’s silence spoke louder than any of his words could have.

459 days in, 1003 to go

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