The Atlantic

Trump Refuses to Soothe a Wounded Nation

In the wake of a tragedy, a president must act as the leader of supporters and critics alike. Trump has proved incapable of this.
Source: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters

Editor’s Note: This article is one of 50 in a series about Trump's first two years as president.

There is one presidential duty that each incumbent must eventually bear, but whose timing no one can foresee. Sooner or later in each presidency, something sudden and terrible will occur—an attack, a natural calamity, something as inevitable as a mass shooting or as unusual as a space-program

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