Trump Fails Leadership Tests By Dividing Instead Of Uniting the Country

Dec 2, 2025 12:20 PM EST, Tue

National Guard shooting becomes the latest failed leadership test for Trump

The president could have emphasized national unity in the wake of the deadly violence. He did the opposite — again.

Dec. 1, 2025, 2:35 PM EST By Steve Benen

The New York Times’ David French noted noted earlier this year that Donald Trump “is at his absolute worst in a crisis.” The columnist, whose observation was related to foreign policy, added in reference to the president: “He is not a man who is ready to meet important and dangerous moments.”

The assessment came to mind after the Republican president seized on the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington last week. The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty explained in an analysis:

There was a time, not that far in the past, when a shocking tragedy would bring the country together.

Americans had the capacity to grieve as one — as they did, for instance, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This reflected their sense of a common purpose and shared values, whatever their political differences might be.

So far, almost the opposite is happening after two young National Guard members from West Virginia were ambushed, killing one and leaving the other in critical condition.

It’s not that Trump failed in his efforts to bring people together in the wake of tragic violence; rather, the president didn’t even try. By all appearances, it didn’t even occur to him to try.

Immediately after the attack, which claimed the life of U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, the president did what many expected him to do: He blamed Joe Biden while lashing out at immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.

This keeps happening. When there was a deadly hurricane in North Carolina, he flunked a leadership test. When there was a deadly attack in New Orleans, he flunked again. When responding to deadly fires in California, he flunked again. In the wake of the Flight 5342 crash over the Potomac River, he flunked again. In the wake of politically motivated violence in Minnesota in June, he flunked again. In the wake of the shooting that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk, he flunked again.

What Americans keep confronting is a core truth about who the incumbent president is and how he approaches his responsibilities: Trump sees crises as opportunities to air grievances and divide the country. To expect him to change is folly.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”

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