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Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump failed when leadership was needed most.

(AP photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The nation is still reeling from the terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded.

The shooter, Omar Mateen, was an ISIS-inspired terrorist, a fanatic who bought into the twisted, perverted version of Islam that the Islamic State spews on the Internet and elsewhere.

Their message is opposed to everything that America stands for, all the freedoms that we hold dear.

The attack was one of those moments where America waited to hear what its leaders, and would-be leaders, had to say. It was a time for leadership, particularly for those who want to be our commander-in-chief, a quintessential "3 a.m. phone call" moment.

And Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, blew it, his comments making you wonder, again, about his fitness for the highest office in the land.

Trump's main response to the Orlando carnage was to reiterate his long-ago call to ban all Muslims from entering the country.

Never mind that such a ban might not be legal.

Never mind that it's completely impractical.

It's just plain wrong. And it's not what America's about.

Do we really have to remind Trump that not every Muslim is a terrorist? That there are plenty of good, law-abiding Muslims among us? That they are our friends and neighbors, our children's classmates in school, people who run businesses all around us?

That they, too, hate the terrorists who have hijacked their religion?

This really would be waging war on all Muslims, and not just on those who live overseas. But on those who already live here, those who were born here. Those who are U.S. citizens.

And that really does play right into ISIS's hands, underlining their message that the West hates all Muslims.

And let's be more real: Even if we do seal our borders to all Muslims, is that any guarantee that there aren't any would-be jihadists already among us? If we'd closed the borders after the San Bernardino massacre in December, also carried out by ISIS fanatics, Mateen would have still been here. He was born here.

So what does calling for a ban on Muslims accomplish except to generate some cheap applause and mindless chants of "USA! USA! USA!"?

Equally appalling was Trump's heat-of-the-moment reaction to the Orlando carnage, when he gave himself a pat on the back by saying on Twitter that he appreciated the congratulations he'd received for being "right on radical Islamic terrorism."

Well, bravo. You won that microsecond's Twitter war.

Instead of focusing on keeping Muslims out of the country, Trump should be focusing on how Mateen went from being watched by the FBI to not being watched by the FBI. How did this terrorist-in-waiting fall through the cracks?

That's a serious question for our national security apparatus to address, particularly with CIA chief John Brennan the other day citing the growing threat from ISIS, and saying that ISIS's capability has not been slowed. He also said that ISIS already has a "large cadre of Western fighters" ready to attack targets in the U.S.

What are we going to do about that? It's a good question for President Barack Obama as well. And presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Beyond new gun control measures, that is.

And what are we going to do to prevent others from becoming radicalized by ISIS's poisonous message of hate and jihad? How can we beef up surveillance, particularly on the Internet, while still preserving civil liberties?

And what are we going to do to crush ISIS where they are, so that they can't inspire jihadists anymore?

That's what we need to be talking about, Mr. Trump. Not banning Muslims.