No you don’t, Mr. President. Stop the getaway car! You don’t get to read an emotionless condemnation of white nationalist terrorism and then leave the scene of the crime. We all know empathy is absent from your shallow, stagnant pool of emotions, but couldn’t you do more than go through the motions?

Forget it, Mr. President. Rhetorical question. Look it up. Or ask Stephen Miller. He must be in the room.

I’ll take a shot in the dark and guess that you’re thinking that these mass murders are a wonderful distraction from North Korean missiles, a looming recession, skyrocketing national debt, a nervous stock market and an easily-won trade war that’s bankrupting American agriculture just like every other business you’ve touched. Most stable evil geniuses would have to work 24/7 to do that much damage, but you’re a natural. You’ve done it, to paraphrase Rush Limbaugh ?– another great American fraud ?– with one golf club tied behind your back.

You can try to hide your culpability behind the implausible deniability of your dog whistles, but thing about dog whistles is, even if others are too deaf to hear them, the dogs still come running. And the sick thing is, you like it. You revel in violence as long as someone does your dirty work for you. “Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell … I promise you I will pay for the legal fees.” (As if you’d pick up a check.) You’ve lowered the national discourse and now the American flag.

I read the “manifesto” posted by the white nationalist El Paso killer, and to tell you the truth, I’m not sure if he’s your speechwriter or you’re his. You both sure like the word “invasion.” It’s remarkable that you can repeatedly demean and dehumanize desperate Hispanic refugees, congresswomen of color, and a predominately black city, but you can’t manage one admonishment of Kim Jong Un’s provocations or Vladimir Putin’s attacks on American democracy, as verified by every intelligence agency in the country. But then, you and Putin share the same agenda — dividing America. The next time you invoke Abraham Lincoln, remind us what he said about a house divided.

No, it’s not video games. It’s not the internet. Maybe it’s you, Mr. President. And cretins like you. Mental health’s a red herring, too, unless we’re talking about your sociopathic narcissism. Explain this: Moscow Mitch’s gutting healthcare, but now, suddenly, y’all are concerned about mental health? Holy Toledo.

No, Mr. President, you don’t get off the hook. You’ve been recklessly egging on white nationalists, and then, when all hell breaks loose, you channel Eddie Haskell. “What me, Mrs. Cleaver?” And speaking of hell, I pray there really is one, but I’ve lost faith in the doctrines of your evangelical robots.

I fully expect to see you fiddling on the White House roof someday. You’re the Arsonist-in-Chief. That’s why the KKK, Neo-Nazi’s, and Proud Boys support you. You know, the base. You’ve granted license to domestic terrorists by executive order. Deny and deflect all you want, but you can’t inspire racism without being a racist, and you can’t incite terrorism without being a terrorist.

Tony Bender writes an exclusive weekly column for Forum News Service.