There's a reason that within the hate-filled manifesto written by the white supremacist killer who gunned down 50 people in New Zealand was the proclamation that Trump represents an international "symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." Asked about the mosque slaughter, Trump waved off the looming threat of white nationalism. "I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems," he insisted. Trump's pitiful reaction wasn't just weird, and it shouldn’t be brushed off as just bad form. It was purposeful, and it was dangerous—but it wasn't really treated that way. For instance, CNN reported over the weekend that the muted comments from the White House "left questions about where the leader of the free world stands in the fight against white supremacy."

And that's how much of the press has played this uncomfortable issue for years, insisting it can't quite tell where Trump stands on the battle against violent racists, when in truth Trump has been utterly clear about his allegiance. Again and again, Trump has told us who he is (a racist, a xenophobe, a fool), yet again and again the press refuses to acknowledge these ugly truths about him.

Indeed, the story in the wake of the New Zealand white supremacist massacre isn't that Trump didn't choose the right words in the aftermath, or that he didn't properly articulate a sense of grief. The story is that Trump represents a central part of the problem, and that his radical ideology aligns with killers such as the one in New Zealand. "The rhetoric is absolutely resonating and connecting with white supremacist and white nationalist groups, who are over the moon to hear him use such language," stresses researcher Robert McKenzie.

Why the general media reluctance to admit the hard truths? It's likely for the same reason journalists appear to be so deathly scared of reporting on Trump's wildly unstable behavior, and specifically of raising questions about whether he's fit to serve the office. Because once you acknowledge the frightening truth of the Trump presidency, there's really no going back. You can't casually report one day that Trump might not be mentally fit to serve and then not report on that every day for the rest of his presidency (i.e., It's kind of a huge deal). And the same holds true of the looming terror threat he poses. Once the press admits that hard truth, there's really no going back. So for now, the press prefers to avoid yet another stunning, unprecedented, radical reality of the Trump era.

We're in obviously uncharted territory in so many different ways with Trump. We've never had a sitting president who seems to have allegiances to a foreign adversary the way he does with Russia. And we've never had a sitting president who so glaringly looks away from mounting national security threats. Recall that early on in his presidency, Trump stripped federal law enforcement of key tools in fighting right-wing terror in America.

The truth is, if Trump encourages toxic white nationalism—which he does—then Trump is encouraging terrorism, period. Because right now in America, it's white nationalists and white supremacists who are terrorizing the country. The Anti-Defamation League recently documented a 73 percent rise in “extremist-related killings” during the past four years. In 2018, domestic extremists killed at least 50 people in the U.S. "Every one of the perpetrators had ties to at least one right-wing extremist movement," the ADL reported, and "white supremacists were responsible for the great majority of the killings."

Some journalists are acknowledging the reality. "The president’s continued encouragement of violence — and of white nationalism — is part of the reason that white-nationalist violence is increasing," New York Times columnist Dave Leonhardt noted this week. "The man with the world’s largest bully pulpit keeps encouraging violence and white nationalism."

But this truth-telling needs to move off the opinion pages and into the news stories. It needs to be dealt with as the established fact that it is: Trump's words and actions pose a terror danger.

Eric Boehlert is a veteran progressive writer and media analyst, formerly with Media Matters and Salon. He is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush and Bloggers on the Bus. You can follow him on Twitter @EricBoehlert.

This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.