Consoler in chief? Not this president

In her first formal press briefing after a mail bomb plot against more than a dozen prominent Democrats and a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders responded in a fashion characteristic to her boss: she went on the offense.

After delivering a prepared statement denouncing anti-Semitism, she denounced news media for coverage of the mail bombs and mass shooting, which is believed to be the deadliest attack on Jews in this country's history.

The "very first thing the media did was to condemn the president, go after him, try to place blame . . . ," she said. "That is outrageous."

No, ma'am, it is not outrageous to ask the same questions that are on the minds of countless other Americans, including those of us who are not in the Trump-Is-Always-Right crowd: How much does the upsurge in racially and religiously linked violence have to do with President Trump's past equivocations about white nationalism and his spreading of paranoid, extremist conspiracy theories?

No, he's not directly responsible for the violence, but the president can do a lot to help determine whether the social and political atmosphere contributes to violence or to peace.

He or, someday, she can also do a lot to offer some remedies and ways to prevent a reoccurrence of tragedies such as the one Saturday at Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh that left 11 people dead.

Or the killing of two African Americans at a Kentucky supermarket, where a witness reportedly heard the suspect say as he let another white man pass unharmed, "whites don't kill whites."

Unfortunately President Trump's first reaction to the first of the week's horrors, the bomb packages, was one of indignation that any other news -- or, as the president put it, "this 'bomb' stuff" -- would intrude on his final weeks of campaigning before the midterms.

"Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls," he tweeted, "and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows -- news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!"

At least, Trump's never-say-die allies would say, he's staying on message. He's staying focused. He's keeping his eyes on the prize that his party -- and the future of his presidency -- may win or lose in the congressional races.

But those who are seeking some sort of hope or guidance beyond who to vote for, they'll have to look elsewhere. Trump does not console very well, or very eagerly, after such tragic events.

There's no mention in the Constitution of a consoler in chief, but recent presidents have shown us how valuable that job can be -- and how demanding.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush faced one of the biggest national unity and hope-rebuilding tasks since Abraham Lincoln. Yet he found just the right words and the right tone to bring the nation together, at least until the Iraq War came along.

President Barack Obama employed his formidable oratory skills after school shootings that were all too frequent and famously started singing "Amazing Grace" in a moment that warmed hearts nationwide.

But President Trump, after a few obligatory statements of sorrow for the dead, quickly returned to shifting all blame onto a favorite target, the media.

"Fake News Must End!" he tweeted Monday. "There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame ... of Anger and Outrage and we will then be able to bring all sides together in Peace and Harmony. Fake News Must End!"

Right, I say sarcastically. We know by now that Trump's definition of "fake news" is any news that he does not like. With his masterful skills at salesmanship, he delights his base by attacking the credibility of any negative news.

Blaming the messenger for the message and inventing an opposition, whether it happens to be the media or some conspiracy theory -- such as mythical terrorists supposedly using a caravan of asylum-seekers to sneak into the country -- are key elements of Trump's game plan.

Election years are notorious as periods in which not much gets done in Washington. This one, unfortunately, is one in which even minimal standards of civility are being shortchanged.

Still, currently, our sorry state of national unity makes this a particularly important time to be choosing the next Congress. The midterms won't decide who is president, but they will decide whether he gets much help.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)