The eyes of the nation today will once again turn to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
That's not only because we continue to reel in the wake of two mass shootings in those cities over the weekend that left 31 dead, dozens more wounded, and one more scar on the nation's psyche.
But also because President Donald Trump today will visit both shooting-marred cities.
This no doubt will come as a surprise to those who believe I take every opportunity to slam the president, but I am glad he is going.
Why?
Because this is what presidents do.
For the past two years, I have asked for nothing from President Trump than that he be presidential. That reached a new crescendo last week when I excoriated him for his comments concerning four Democratic congresswomen, as well as Rep. Elijah Cummings and the city of Baltimore.
I considered his comments beneath the dignity of his office.
In the continuing madness of the mass shooting culture that afflicts the nation, the commander-in-chief becomes consoler-in-chief.
I am fully aware that there are those who believe the presidents inflammatory rhetoric looms as an ugly tent over these latest shootings, in particular in El Paso, which sits on the border of Mexico with its sister city Juarez.
In these situations the president - not just Trump, but his predecessors as well - are for the most part in a no-win situation.
Don't go and you're criticized for being aloof and unfeeling to those in mourning.
Go and many will say you are trying to politicize the situation.
But Trump needs to go to both cities today. He needs to show real, true empathy, something he has struggled with in the past.
He needs to be much more than that guy reading the teleprompter the other day.
Will he reference his previous rhetoric. I doubt it.
But he still needs to be there.
I'm glad he's going.
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