Trump has abandoned the traditional role of consoler-in-chief to make things worse in L.A.

President George H.W. Bush’s actions following acquittals in the Rodney King case are instructive.

When four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King , President George H.W. Bush expressed the shock and horror many Americans felt.

“What you saw and what I saw on the TV video was revolting,” Bush said in a nationally televised speech f rom the Oval Office. “I felt anger. I felt pain. I thought: How can I explain this to my grandchildren?”

Bush spoke after dispatching National Guard troops to Los Angeles following three days of civil unrest sparked by the not-guilty verdicts — some of the worst domestic violence the country had ever seen. He acted at the reques

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