Our nation desperately needs strong leadership at the national level

As just about everyone who pays attention to the news knows by now, a man with a gun entered a synagogue in Pittsburgh this past Saturday morning and, with anti-Semitic intent, started shooting, killing 11 people and injuring 6.

Of course an actor must be held responsible for his actions, and in this sense, the gunman will naturally be charged and held for trial for murder and hate crimes.

But a strain of anti-Semitic hatred became publicly visible at Charlottesville a little over a year ago and our president did nothing to denounce the racists there at that event, instead limply offering moral equivalence between the racists and those there protesting against racism. That weak leadership, which has been seen in other areas of his presidency, has led racists, xenophobes, and anti-Semites to be emboldened to more freely express their hateful beliefs, and in the case of the Pittsburgh shooting, act upon that hatred in a way that led to the deaths of innocent Americans.

Any true patriotic American should be outraged at the deaths of innocent Americans!

Strong leadership should be unafraid to speak out against an injustice, and that includes speaking out forcefully against racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia.