Trump on Manchester bombing: the terrorists are "evil losers"
President Donald Trump pulled out one of his harshest insults on Tuesday to describe the terrorists responsible for killing more than 22 people at a concert in the United Kingdom. He called them “evil losers.”
Trump condemned the Monday night attack after a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem, which was part of his scheduled overseas trip. He wouldn’t go as far as calling the perpetrators “monsters,” he said, because they would probably “think that’s a great name.” So he called them what the president considers to be the worst imaginable thing: a loser.
“So many young, beautiful innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life,” he said. “I will call them from now on losers, because that’s what they are. They’re losers. And we’ll have more of them. But they’re losers. Just remember that.”
The terrorist attack happened around 10:33 pm local time at a concert hall in Manchester, England, where pop star Ariana Grande was concluding her concert. The explosion killed 22 people and injured 59, according to Greater Manchester police. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack, describing the perpetrator as a “soldier of the caliphate” who planted bombs “in the middle of Crusaders gatherings.”
Police believe that only one man carried out the mass killing, and that he died at the arena. He has been identified, but police have not released his name to the public.
Trump used the opportunity to ask countries to work together to defeat ISIS —something he’s brought up repeatedly with leaders during his first presidential trip abroad.
“Our society can have no tolerance for this continuation of bloodshed. We cannot stand a moment longer for the slaughter of innocent people,” he said. “And in today’s attack, it was mostly innocent children. The terrorists and extremists, and those who give them aid and comfort, must be driven out of our society forever. This wicked ideology must be obliterated, and I mean completely obliterated. Life must be protected.”