Trump Responds To Turkey Attack With Zero Empathy

More than 30 people died in Istanbul on Tuesday evening and the nation was made aware of the terrible event. Donald Trump responded to the Istanbul attacks in the least presidential way, calling it "yet another terrorist attack." Taking to Twitter, he showed a lack of empathy for the victims and total disregard for Turkey, an important U.S. and NATO ally. And in November he could become president, despite proving once again that he's in no way presidential.

Trump's reaction to the horrific Istanbul airport attack amounted to two tweets, and we know how terrible Trump is on Twitter. First, Trump sent out, "Yet another terrorist attack, this time in Turkey. Will the world ever realize what is going on? So sad." Then he added, "We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States."

Three, or even four, gunmen attacked the third-busiest airport in Europe and then detonated suicide bombs after engaging in gunfire with police at security checkpoints. Trump didn't say a thing; he didn't even mention the heroic actions of one police officer that could have potentially saved many more lives. Instead, Trump summed up everything as simply "yet another terrorist attack."

As for questioning if the world realizes what's going on, doesn't Trump know Turkey already knows? Tuesday's airport bombing is just the latest attack in the country. The nation borders Syria and the porous border has allowed ISIS fighters to come and go with little to no control, according to USA Today. "ISIS has had a campaign against Turkey for the past year," a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, James Jeffrey, told USA Today.

In January, a suspected ISIS fighter blew himself up near the Blue Mosque in one of the most tourist-heavy districts of Istanbul; 10 people were killed including eight German tourists. This month, 11 more were killed when a police bus was targeted in a nearby central district with a car bomb; the Kurdish Worker’s Party was blamed. Those are just two examples of at least five terrorist attacks, not to mention many more in other parts of the country. In other words, Turkey is well aware that terrorism is a problem.

As for his other comment, "We must do everything possible to keep this horrible terrorism outside the United States," this is not about the United States. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. has not seen another coordinated terrorist attack — just lone attackers like in San Bernardino or Orlando. Therefore, an American leader should be standing with Turks, not making the attack about Americans.

The Trump campaign later seemed to realize their candidate's shortcomings by releasing this statement: "Our prayers are with the families of those killed and injured in Istanbul. The whole world is stunned and horrified."

That's a start, but just a start. It pales in comparison to the remarks by Hillary Clinton or the White House, and is one more reason not to trust Trump on foreign relations moving forward.