Thousands protested in Pittsburgh against Donald Trump visiting after the massacre at Tree of Life synagogue.
Despite pleas from local leaders and citizens to not visit Squirrel Hill, or at least postpone his trip in the wake of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre, President Donald Trump nevertheless arrived in the Pittsburgh neighborhood on October 30. With First Lady Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner in tow, the president made his way to the synagogue where 11 were senselessly killed in an anti-semitic shooting, and was greeted with throngs of understandably angry protestors. Thousands gathered in Squirrel Hill to let Trump know that they didn’t want him infringing on their grief as they tried to process the community’s painful loss.
With signs and chants, the protestors told the president that “dividing people does not make America great;’ his visit comes on the heels of announcing he’d be signing an executive order to take away birthright citizenship. The “No Antisemitism, No White Supremacy, No Trump” rally, organized by IfNotNow Pittsburgh, began at 3:00pm ET, just 45 minutes before the president’s plane touched down in PA. They were soon joined by Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh, Women’s March, and the Pittsburgh Loves All Our Neighbors rally. The latter two groups marched together to the Tree of Life Synagogue to show the president he was unwelcome.
His trip to Squirrel Hill was widely criticized as tone-deaf, and even awkward, after politicians, religious leaders, and victims’ families begged him to stay back until at least after the murdered congregants were buried. Trump’s visit comes on the same day as funerals began for the first of the 11 dead. Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto urged the president to reconsider his trip, saying, “I do believe that it would be best to put the attention on families this week and if he were to visit, choose a different time to do it.” If it were not fully clear that he wasn’t welcome in Squirrel Hill, the first family was awkwardly only greeted by a National Guard official at the airport — no Pennsylvania state politicians or local leaders.
Trump had invited other Washington politicians — Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan, and Chuck Schumer, and Mitch McConnell — along for the trip, but they all declined.
Eleven congregants were slain at the synagogue on October 27 after a gunman burst in screaming “all Jews must die!” The gunman, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, fatally shot 11 people, and wounded six more, including four police officers, before surrendering. The synagogue had been packed with three separate congregations attending Saturday services, including a bris ceremony for a baby boy. Bowers was a confessed anti-semite with a history of posting horrific content about Jewish people online.
