The President shoots blanks
N
ot quite two weeks ago, President Trump looked at two senators among a bipartisan group of lawmakers gathered in the White House — senators who had led the charge to get universal background checks signed into federal law — and told them, point blank, “You’re afraid of the NRA.”
Upon further review, it turns out he was looking past them, straight into a mirror.
Trump on Sunday unveiled long-awaited policy plans supposedly designed to combat the plague of mass shootings in American schools. They represent a near-total capitulation to the gun lobby Trump claimed to have the courage to confront.
In that meeting with senators and representatives, Trump repeatedly expressed incredulity that an American teenager could buy an assault rifle: “It doesn’t make sense that I have to wait until I’m 21 to get a handgun, but I can get this weapon at 18.” His plan does nothing to change that. In that meeting, Trump urged the parties to pass “a comprehensive bill” — one that would combine real gun reforms with mental health investments and other school safety measures. His plan does nothing of the sort. In that meeting, Trump insisted upon making that bill’s foundation the “very strong” background-check bill written by Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey, the men he maligned for supposedly being cowed by the gun lobby: “I’d rather have you come up with a strong, strong bill. And really strong on background checks.”
His plan lets the Manchin-Toomey legislation, which 97% of Americans support but the NRA opposes, rot on the vine.
And in that meeting, Trump demanded aggressive tools to repossess the guns of those who might be dangerous: “Take the guns first, go through due process second.”
His plan does ask states to pass what are known as extreme risk protection orders, whereby authorities can grab back guns from dangerous people. They’re a potentially important mechanism — but not as aggressive as what Trump outlined.
Meantime, the President continues to fight to put more guns in the hands of more teachers and other school staff, insanely selling it as something close to a silver bullet to solve mass shootings.
So, here we are. Fourteen months into the Trump administration, we have watched grand Oval Office promises of bipartisan leadership on immigration and guns fall apart amidst furious presidential implosions.
No one should ever again be taken in by a Donald Trump pledge to bring Democrats and Republicans together on a tough issue. He is impossible to follow, in more ways than one.