Tim Ryan: ‘Really Problematic’ Trump ‘Incapable of Feeling Empathy’

Presidential candidate Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) said on Wednesday that it is “really problematic” that President Donald Trump is “incapable of feeling empathy” after the Dayton and El Paso shootings.

Ryan said it is “hard to see him connect emotionally in this environment” and added that, after the El Paso and Dayton shootings, Trump is “incapable of feeling that compassion that is needed… that Barack Obama had, that Bill Clinton had, that George W. Bush had.”

“I feel like he’s incapable of feeling empathy,” Ryan told host Craig Melvin on MSNBC. “The whole country is in pain now, and we have a president who doesn’t know how to connect with people in pain.”

Ryan said Trump’s inability to feel empathy and compassion is “really problematic when you have the level of division you have in the United States, the race issues that we have… these really deep problems that we have in this country.”

He added that a president must “lead everyone in that pain, in that confusion, in that fear, and then begin the healing process so that we can move forward.”

Ryan said Trump is not that president because he often “in many ways makes it worse.” The Ohio Congressman said that even if Trump delivers good speeches in Ohio and Texas, “chances are he’s going to revert back later tonight” when he gets on Twitter and causes “more and more division.”