The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump flays migrant laws, press at NRA
In first-ever dual visit by a president and VP, Pence gives speech, too.
DALLAS — President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both addressed the 147th National Rifle Association Annual Meetings and Exhibits on Friday, the first time a president and vice president have appeared jointly.
“We love Texas!” Trump said after chants of “USA! USA!” died down. Trump ticked off a long list of local politicians to thank and endorse, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Trump’s onetime opponent, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who are both up for re-election.
“USA! USA!” cranked up again after Trump’s comments about patriotism.
“We have pride in our history and respect for our heritage,” he said. “We put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance, and we all proudly stand for the national anthem.”
There was no mention of recent controversies making headlines. Rudy Giuliani, now part of Trump’s legal team, made a stunning statement on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show that Trump had repaid personal attorney Michael Cohen for an October 2016 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Neither the Giuliani interview earlier this week nor the one Daniels gave to “60 Minutes” in late March saying she’d had a one-time sexual relationship with Trump and was threatened to keep quiet about it surfaced Friday.
Instead, Trump was peak Trump in delivering an address that at times felt like a campaign stump speech, other times like a recitation of his Twitter feed. He blasted “fake news CNN,” “distorted” NBC and the Robert Mueller investigation before hailing recently passed tax cuts, the low unemployment rate and Kanye West, who said during a TMZ interview the other day, “I just love Trump. That’s my boy.”
“Kanye West must have some power,” Trump said. “I doubled my African-American poll numbers. We went from 11 to 22 in one week. Thank you, Kanye.”
Trump then pivoted to “We’re really doing well with North Korea” before making fun of former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry for breaking his leg (“At 73 years old, you never go into a bicycle race”; Kerry was actually 71 when he broke his leg in 2015) and then railing against illegal immigration.
“We have the worst immigration laws anywhere in the President Donald Trump points to the NRA convention crowd Friday in Dallas.
world,” he said. “After years of defending the borders of other countries ... we don’t defend our own borders. We have laws that were written by people that truly could not love our country. Illegal immigration must end. We are not going to let our country be overwhelmed.”
The bombast left his voice briefly when he mentioned the victims of the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting, saying he was inspired by the group he met with after the Feb. 14 massacre that killed 17. Soon after the Parkland shooting, Trump proposed a ban on bump stocks, accessories that let semiautomatic rifles fire more quickly. His remarks Friday focused instead on fortifying schools and allowing trained teachers to carry guns, in addition to improving response to “early warning signals” and mental health efforts.
“Law-abiding gun owners want to keep firearms out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves and others,” he said. “We all want that.”
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was among the students shot to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is among a group of prominent activists planning a protest rally about a mile from the convention site today. Actress Alyssa Milano, who entered Georgia politics for a time as an active campaigner during Jon Ossoff’s unsuccessful bid for a congressional seat, and Women’s March executive adviser Kim Russell are
among the group planning “to fight for gun control and combat the NRA’s toxic influence over our political system,” a release said.
Pence spoke ahead of Trump.
“President Trump and I came here today mostly to say thanks,” Pence said. “Thanks for electing a president and a Congress that are making America great again. It’s been 15 months of promises made and promises kept, and we’re just getting started.”
Pence brought the crowd to its feet with comments disparaging the media.
“Firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens make our communities more safe, not less safe,” he said. “Today I want to call on the national media: start telling the whole story.”
Org a nizers estimate 80,000 people are attending the convention, which is going on through Sunday. Casey Price of Cartersville is one of them. He comes from a family of NRA members and, at 18, is excited to join, too.
“Freedom,” is what he prizes about the NRA. “It’s getting together with people who aren’t going to judge you for what you have or what you want to buy.”
He and Ian Bledsoe, also of Cartersville, are here working for Optic Force, which sells sights, stocks and other accessories. They’ve worked other gun shows, but nothing compares to this one, Bledsoe said.
“It’s massive,” he said. “A lot of cool things to see.”