President Trump, fresh off his trip to Pittsburgh to honor the victims and first responders of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, used the experience to push a Republican congressional candidate.

Posting on Twitter, Trump wrote: "Yesterday in Pittsburgh I was really impressed with Congressman Keith Rothfus (far more so than any other local political figure). His sincere level of compassion, grief and sorrow for the events that took place was, in its own way, very inspiring. Vote for Keith!"


Earlier this week, I argued against using the shooting as a way of scoring points against Trump, because doing so only diminishes the very real and broader problem of anti-Semitism. Conservatives routinely argue against liberals attempting to exploit tragedies to push ideological agendas, such as gun control. But that should cut both ways.

In this case, Trump went to Pittsburgh, ostensibly, to provide support to the community affected by the tragedy — not to campaign.

So it is not appropriate for him to turn around the next day and use the experience to push his preferred congressional candidate. Is it the worst thing he's ever done or will ever do? No, but it's tone deaf at a sensitive time.

Routhfus, meanwhile, is one of the most endangered Republicans in Congress, and is currently considered "likely" to lose by the Cook Political Report.