On Monday, President Donald Trump condemned white supremacy in no uncertain terms in brief comments about the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. The El Paso shooter wrote a manifesto condemning immigrants, leading many Democrats to baselessly blame Trump for the shooting and even called the president a “white nationalist” and a supporter of “white supremacy.”
“The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy,” Trump declared. “Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.”
“We cannot allow ourselves to feel powerless. We can and will stop this evil contagion. In that task we must honor the sacred memory of those we have lost by acting as one people,” he said. “We must seek real, bipartisan solutions.”
Trump presented a plan to fight mass shootings. He called for the Department of Justice, state and federal agencies, and social media companies to develop tools to detect potential shooters; called for an end to “the glorification of violence” in video games; called for reforms to mental health laws; supported risk protection measures like red flag laws to deny those “judged to be a threat to public safety” access to firearms; and championed the death penalty for hate crimes and mass murder.
Perhaps responding to those who call for extreme gun control or firearm confiscation, the president declared, “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”
"Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun," Donald Trump says. Also supports "red-flag laws" to remove guns from mentally troubled people via "swift due process."
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) August 5, 2019
Trump celebrated the passing of the Stop School Violence Act and the DOJ ban on bump stocks. “But there is so much more that we have to do. Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside — so destructive — and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love,” he added.
President Trump Delivers Remarks https://t.co/sSVPZM8ypj
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 5, 2019
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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