President Donald Trump — sounding somber and sad — told thousands of supporters jammed into a southern Illinois Airport hangar on Saturday that “the horrible shooting” that killed 11 people and injured at least six more, including four police officers, earlier in the day at a Pittsburgh synagogue requires the death penalty for the perpetrator.
“People who do this should get the death penalty,” Trump said during an extended expression of anger and sorrow over the Pennsylvania tragedy in his opening remarks to yet another huge standing room-only Make America Great Again rally crowd.
“I think they should stiffen up laws, and I think they should very much bring the death penalty to anybody who does a thing like this to innocent people,” Trump said.
Those in attendance or watching the rally on livestreams saw a side of Trump he rarely reveals in public. He went on at some length in a deliberate voice condemning the anti-Semitism that prompted alleged shooter Robert Bowers to yell, “All Jews must die,” as he began shooting in the synagogue.
Related: Shooter in Pittsburgh Is in Custody; Multiple Casualties, Officers Shot
Trump said, “The hearts of all Americans are filled with grief today following the monstrous killing of Jewish-Americans at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You’ve all seen it, you’ve been watching it.”
The crowd, which went silent at the president’s first mention of Pittsburgh, cheered loudly and at length when he told them, “The suspect is in custody. The federal authorities are on the scene leading an aggressive federal investigation. State and local law enforcement has been incredible.”
The “evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us— it’s an assault on humanity,” Trump said. “It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism from our world.”
Trump continued, “This was an anti-Semitic attack at its worst. The scourge of anti-Semitism cannot be ignored, it cannot be tolerated, and it cannot be allowed to continue, we cannot allow it to continue.”
“It must be confronted and condemned everywhere it rears its very ugly head. We must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish the forces of hate. That’s what it is,” he said.
Trump’s daughter Ivanka converted to the Orthodox Jewish faith when she married Jared Kushner, a practicing Jew. The Kushners are heavily involved in Trump’s administration, with Ivanka pushing policies and programs aimed at helping professional women, and Jared focusing on seeking a settlement of the Palestinian issue in the Middle East.
“Now when you have crimes like this, whether it’s this one or another one, we have to bring back the death penalty. They have to pay the ultimate price — they can’t do this to our country. We must draw a line in the sand and say, very strongly, ‘Never again.'”
Trump reminded the crowd that the Jewish people have suffered for centuries across the world from terrible pogroms and persecutions, most notably during World War II, when Germany’s Adolf Hitler killed more than 6 million Jews in concentration camps as part of his “final solution” to rid Europe of all traces of their existence.
“Through the centuries, the Jews have endured terrible persecutions and you know that, we’ve all read it and studied it. They’ve gone through a lot. And those seeking their destruction — we will seek their destruction,” he said, emphasizing “their destruction” in his voice.
“Now when you have crimes like this, whether it’s this one or another one, we have to bring back the death penalty. They have to pay the ultimate price — they can’t do this to our country. We must draw a line in the sand and say, very strongly, ‘Never again.'”
“This is the time to renew the bonds of loyalty that hold us all together as Americans. These bonds have always sustained our nation in its hour of need.”
Trump also praised the local law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting, saying, “We send our gratitude to the law enforcement officers who were incredible and who risked their lives and sustained very, very serious injuries during this horrible attack. We salute the heroes of American law enforcement. We always do.”
Related: ‘All Jews Must Die’: What You Must Know About the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting
The president encouraged the crowd, “This is the time to renew the bonds of loyalty that hold us all together as Americans. These bonds have always sustained our nation in its hour of need. Everybody here knows that, and they are always more powerful than the forces of hatred and division, anger and evil.”
“In America, we love our families, we love our neighbors, and we protect our communities,” he continued. “We trust in God, we protect the freedom of worship, and we believe in the power of prayer. We defend our Constitution, we defend our heritage, and we rally around our great American flag like nobody else.”
At that point, Trump returned to his standard campaign themes, extolling his administration’s success in boosting economic growth, deregulating the economy, restoring U.S. military strength, and renegotiating international trade agreements that have put American manufacturers at a disadvantage in world markets.
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