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Trump Is Deafeningly Silent On The Minnesota Mosque Bombing

by Josie Rhodes Cook

On Saturday morning, an unidentified attacker bombed the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota. And although no one was hurt, it's still extremely scary for Muslim-Americans that a mosque was targeted in the attack, one that Gov. Mark Dayton has now stated was "an act of terrorism." And since President Donald Trump has been so strong on his anti-terror message in the past, many are wondering: has Trump addressed the Minnesota mosque bombing? If you take a quick peek at his Twitter account, arguably Trump's favorite place to make his opinions known, he has remained silent on the issue as of Monday morning.

Romper reached out to the White House in regards to Trump not yet publicly acknowledging the mosque bombing in Minnesota, but as of publication, had not received a response to the inquiry.

NBC News reported that, luckily, no one was harmed in the explosion in Minnesota, and that it occurred around 5 a.m. Saturday. However, windows of the imam's office in the facility were reportedly shattered, and the FBI believes either an "improvised explosive device" or an object thrown through them were the cause of that damage. NBC News also reported that a room was damaged in the explosion.

The FBI is currently seeking suspects and determining whether the incident was a hate crime. But according to The Star Tribune, the governor of the state has decried the attack as "a terrible, dastardly, cowardly, terrible act" that needs to be investigated.

So why has the president of the United States not said anything about the incident?

As of 11 a.m. on Monday, Trump had tweeted on his personal Twitter account a total of nine times. None of those tweets were in reference to the attack in Minnesota. And since the bombing on Saturday, it doesn't appear that he has tweeted about it all. On Aug. 5, however, he did post a link to an article with the quote, "Under Trump, gains against #ISIS have dramatically accelerated."

So while Trump has tweeted in reference to "gains" against a terrorist group, he has not done so about an attack that has been deemed an act of terror here in the United States for several days following the event.

It should be noted that the Department of Homeland Security Saturday issued a statement on the explosive attack in Bloomington, Minnesota, according to The Saint Paul Pioneer Press:

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke is aware of the explosion today at a mosque in Bloomington, Minn. We are in close contact with federal, state and local authorities and local community leaders as the investigation into this matter continues. The Department of Homeland Security fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution. We are thankful there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.

And that could technically be seen as a statement from the administration about the incident.

But Trump himself has made no mention of the attack, which is particularly glaring because he has taken anti-terrorism stances in the past. In particular, Writer Mike Mullen at City Pages pointed out that when a 2016 knife attack wounded 10 people (and left attacker Dahir Adan dead) in a St. Cloud, Minnesota mall, Trump didn't waste time in commenting on the attack, and tweeted that he was "thinking of the victims, their families and all Americans!"

So why the sudden silence now?

To give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe Trump is waiting on information from the Department of Homeland Security before making a statement on the incident. Or maybe he's crafting the perfect tweet to take on the issue before he goes live with his own statement.

But in any case, as of noon on Monday, Trump has not yet addressed the Minnesota mosque bombing. And to many inside and out of the Muslim community, the silence is deafening.