US weekly The New Yorker, the most influential cultural media outlet in the world, has contrasted the inclusive speech from the president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, after the attack of Barcelona, with the comments from Donald Trump, the president of the USA. The publication gives the Puigdemont's speech as a model, while also criticising the "moral equivocation" expressed by Trump after the racist incidents in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend.
"Charlottesville and Barcelona are also united by Donald Trump’s increasingly extremist discourse", equating his ambiguous comments after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville with his mention of an "apparently apocryphal" quote from General Pershing supporting the murder of Islamic terrorists with bullets covered in pig's blood. "Such talk, of course, is hugely offensive to Muslims everywhere and is sure to inflame tensions. Perhaps that is Trump’s intention." They also note that the president had earlier that day, in an interview with the Fox News channel, recommended "killing the families of terrorists" as a tactic in the ongoing war against Daesh (Islamic State).
The article goes on to compare Trump's remarks with the statement issued by the office of the Catalan president:
"We know that all good people, of all backgrounds and religions, and of all social statuses give their support to the victims. They're on our side. Democracy and the values intrinsic to liberty and equality are stronger than terrorist violence. Together, we will defeat those who try to create distrust through violence. Catalonia has been, is and will be a country of peace. A welcoming country. And we will not let a small group end our way of life forged through the centuries." [Our own translation]
The magazine concludes: "The Catalan government’s statement—carefully eschewing the easy route of stoking fear of Muslims—made efforts to be inclusive and encompassing of its polyglot population. It was the kind of statement previous American Presidents might have made, sensitive to their role as moral guides and protectors of all their citizens. It was the opposite of the statements made by the current one."