[The
president’s post suggested that Mr. Khan was too blasé about the attack. But in
a statement he posted on Facebook several hours earlier, the mayor condemned
the “sickening attack” committed by “twisted and cowardly terrorists.”]
By Peter Bakerjune
 |
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of
at Westminster Abbey after an
attack on
Credit Pool photo by Eddie
Mulholland
|
WASHINGTON
— President Trump assailed
political correctness, gun control supporters and the mayor of London Britain
“We
must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security
for our people,” he wrote on Twitter. “If we don’t get smart it will only get
worse.”
Mr.
Trump targeted Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London
The
president’s post suggested that Mr. Khan was too blasé about the attack. But in
a statement he posted on Facebook several hours earlier, the mayor condemned
the “sickening attack” committed by “twisted and cowardly terrorists.”
“I
condemn these terrorists in the strongest possible terms,” he said in the video.
“They are barbaric cowards, and there is absolutely no justification for their
evil and unforgivable actions.”
Mr.
Khan went on to add: “I’d urge all Londoners to remain calm and vigilant today
and over the days ahead. We are all shocked and angry today but this is our
city — we will never let these cowards win and we will never be cowed by
terrorism.”
On
Saturday night and Sunday morning, in the hours after the attack, Mr. Trump
sought to build support for his proposed travel ban on visitors from select
Muslim-majority countries, which has been blocked by the courts, and argued
that gun control was pointless because terrorists in this case used other
weapons.
“Do
you notice we are not having a gun debate right now?” he wrote on Sunday
morning. “That’s because they used knives and a truck!”
On
Saturday night, he wrote: “We need the courts to give us back our rights. We
need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!”
Mr.
Trump called Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain United
States
It
was not the first time a member of the Trump family criticized Mr. Khan, the
first Muslim mayor of any major Western capital. In March, after a terrorist
attack in London Britain
“You
have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says
London Mayor Sadiq Khan,” the younger Mr. Trump wrote at the time.
Mr.
Trump’s post left the impression that Mr. Khan was minimizing the importance of
terrorist attacks. But in fact, he was saying that terrorism was a reality that
a big city needed to be prepared to prevent and respond to vigorously.
“Part
and parcel of living in a great global city is you’ve got to be prepared for
these things, you’ve got to be vigilant, you’ve got to support the police doing
an incredibly hard job,” Mr. Khan said.
“That
means being vigilant, having a police force that is in touch with communities, it
means the security services being ready, but it also means exchanging ideas and
best practice,” Mr. Khan was quoted saying.
Asked
later during a television interview about the president’s son, Mr. Khan
dismissed the post. “I’m not going to respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr.,”
he said on CNN. “I’ve been doing far more important things over the last 24 hours.”
