Page 24 - Consoler News Today

Its certainly been a difficult week, as we said, two shootings, two cities within hours of one another. in the past, presidents have tried to console and inspire and listen to the victims, their families. that did not happen this week. i want to get some perspective from cnn presidential historian doug brinkly and kristen powers. this whole tradition of presidents going and being consoler in chief, has that always been in our history. >> no. when theodore roosevelt had to deal with the san franc...

Suffering of people. and in moments like this, to be the consoler in chief and, you know, he couldnt muster the resources to do that then. but this is not a new thing, anderson. i mean, we always express astonishment at his behavior, but his behavior is quite consistent. i mean this is really very predictable. people were attacking him for his role in incitement. he didnt like it, he struck back and he was very consumed with how people thought about him. the tweets about how people were -- how p...

>> the crew of the space shuttle challenger honored us with the men comein which they live thei lives. we will never forget them the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the bonds of earth to touch the face of god. >> amazing grace, how speweet t sound. >> that was powerful. stepping into the role of consoler in chief. it is a necessary part of the job. cnn presidential historian doug brinkley is with me. just going for those moments...

Vacation with the fullest plate imaginable and with the critic still, doris, in a state of shock and anguish and with the dawning realization for a lot of people, despite the noise about gun safety and people talking about the house coming back in and pressure on mitch mcconnell, theres still a deep sense for a lot of people of kind of aching sense that maybe again well have another horrific mass shooting, in this case, two of them and nothing will change. >> i think its a sad sense that people ...

The hospital room and then there was a video subsequently put out that was basically celebrating the presidents visit to the hospital. that was very much put together by the white house as we well saw. my question though to noah is, how is this -- or will this affect his base? will this affect trumps base? will they see it as the fact that this president is not comfortable in the position as consoler in chief. hes not been empathetic to the victims of the horrific crimes that took place over the...

Well. racist as well. so we saw whats going on on our side. i think on the democratic side look we have come to a point that people cant take it anymore. it is really clear who donald trump is. its been for a long while now. but what we saw this week, right, we saw this week is a president who couldnt rise to the occasion. right? in past years, we have seen democrat and republican presidents regardless not make this of politics. it wasnt partisan. but he wasnt able to just heal the country, to u...

Behalf of the country. he could not do it. >> you know, all you have to do is just close your mouth and listen to people who are in grief. listen to first responders who have risked their lives and saved lives. its -- you dont have to say anything, you just have to listen, and the fact that he cant do that its just -- its -- >> right. >> -- its just -- its sad. >> you know, one of the great requirements of a president is the capacity for empathy, to feel the pain and to feel the suffering of peo...

>> why the heck should we consider being surprised? this man from day one said he is the genius that can resolve china and north korea, the genius that can fix iran. only guy to confront g7, smarter than the federal reserve on interest rates, only guy to tell me how to spend money, only guy to fix nafta. every previous president going back to george washington is an idiot. told us from day two in front of the cia loss of cia officers, stood in front of stars of the fallen was insignificant inste...

Your base. president trump has promised action in the past. remember after parkland? >> yes. >> he met with some of the survivors, i think we have a piece from that meeting. let me play that for you. >> as we continue to mourn the loss of so many prush shus yoec lives in parkland, florida. were determined to turn our grief into action. i believe that. >> turn our grief into action. did any action happen? >> no. >> no. the only action is action from the nra saying, youre not going to do that. >> ...

We do it every damn day. he knows that. he did smart move. keeping himself out of public visibility today. he went to the hospital. hes right to do that its respectful. he avoided people he knew he wasnt in his own backyard. and he makes a decision not to address the pain, thats on him. but there are a lot of people who are going to have the vote. this happened a long time before him. and if it doesnt change because the people demand it, it will continue long after him. >> well, i learned a lot....