Do Better is an op-ed column by writer Lincoln Anthony Blades that debunks fallacies regarding the politics of race, culture, and society — because if we all knew better, we'd do better.

President Donald Trump desperately needs us all to know how important the battle against terrorism is to him. He tells us in speeches that he's "working night and day to keep our nation safe from terrorism." He flexes his Twitter fingers after any act of terror allegedly caused by a Muslim person hits nearly anywhere around the globe. But when an act of extremism appears to have been carried out against the Muslim community in the United States, he serves up radio silence.

At around 5 a.m. on August 5, a bomb exploded at the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, while more than a dozen Muslims from the community were inside preparing for Fajr, the early-morning prayer. No one was injured in the blast, which was reportedly caused by an IED (improvised explosive device) that started a fire in the office of the imam and president of the mosque. The FBI's Minneapolis division has stated that the mosque bombing is a top priority. At a news conference, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigation, Rick Thornton, said, "At this point, our focus is to determine who and why.... Is it a hate crime? Is it an act of terror." Mark Dayton, the governor of Minnesota, labeled the attack "a criminal act of terrorism."

Though a major American intelligence agency is taking this very seriously, the White House's response to the bombing came from Trump's national security adviser Sebastian Gorka, who stated that the White House will not comment on the bombing because it may have been a fake hate crime.

"There’s a great rule: All initial reports are false," he said. But Trump rarely waits on facts before oozing out an unqualified, nonfactual take about a potential terror incident that has been allegedly carried out by a Muslim extremist. The president has remained active on Twitter since the bombing but has made no mention of this apparent terror attack, because Gorka's "great rule" is never applied by Trump when the narrative of an issue can fit into his myopic, xenophobic worldview.

According to The Washington Post, Trump tweeted about Muslims and terrorism three and a half hours after the 2015 attacks in Paris, then within 90 minutes after a shooting in San Bernardino, California, on December 2, 2015, and after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando on June 12, 2016, he lashed out at Muslims and terrorism within six hours (it occurred overnight, which possibly delayed his response).