Speaking on CNN on Saturday, Rabbi Joshua Stanton responded to President Donald Trump blaming the death toll in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre to a lack of security.

“This is a case where if they had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately,” Trump opined when speaking to reporters hours after the attack. “If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.”

Stanton said this on CNN about Trump’s words:

“The words that I heard from our president today were deeply disappointing. He had one job, to provide comfort for those that were mourning, and instead, his words sounded to me like an advertisement for gun companies… In our tradition that is seen as one of the highest acts of kindness is to be with those who are heartbroken and grieving, and instead, we just heard more empty rhetoric from a person who is already engaged in anti-semitic dog whistles. I was hurt. I was offended, and I was deeply saddened as a human being, a Jewish person, and an American, and a rabbi.”

Then, referring to Trump’s security remarks, he said it felt like victim blaming.

“It felt like victim blaming to me,” Stanton, a rabbi at East End Synagogue said. “I was appalled and I was saddened. His job was to comfort victims. Not to blame victims.”

Watch above, via CNN

[image via screengrab]

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