Trump shows he’s not serious about ending U.S. mass shootings
President Trump left zero doubt Monday that he’s not serious about stopping the sort of mass shootings that left three dead in Gilroy, nine in Dayton and 22 in El Paso.
In his 10-minute remarks to the nation, Trump made no mention of meaningful gun control. Although he hinted earlier, in a morning tweet, at “strong background checks,” he abandoned the notion by the time he delivered his televised address a few hours later.
And he made no mention of reinstating the nation’s ban on assault weapons, which were used in all three shootings over the past two weekends. The ban, authored by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein after a 1993 mass shooting in San Francisco, expired in 2004 — even though it saved lives.
Rather, Trump blamed mental illness, video games and the internet for the mass shootings. Sure, those are areas of concern that should be explored. But there’s no evidence that, when comparing the United States to the rest of the world, those factors explain the high rate of mass shootings in this country.
Trump was merely parroting National Rifle Association talking points that ignore that the rest of the world has mental illness, video games and internet access. Yet the United States stands out in its volume of mass killings and proliferation of weapons.
Trump and the GOP don’t really want to know why. For two decades Republicans have blocked federal funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research the relationship between gun violence and public health.
If there is any doubt about Trump’s lack of sincerity, look no further than his morning tweet calling for a bipartisan deal that combines background checks and immigration reform.
Not only are the chances of such a deal on two intractable political issues slim to none, but also the notion of melding the two policy debates gives legitimacy to mass shooters with racist manifestos. It essentially would be saying that if they shoot enough people, we’ll limit the number of people who can immigrate to our country.
In fact, one of the biggest obstacles to a bipartisan deal on immigration has been the president’s hard-line demands for an agreement that includes full funding for his border wall, limits on people sponsoring relatives for immigration and ending a visa program for people from countries underrepresented in U.S. immigration.
Trump could have had an immigration deal if he was willing to show leadership and compromise rather than demonize those who are seeking a better life in the United States. To now suggest it should be linked to background checks demonstrates that the president isn’t serious about either issue.
Unfortunately, it’s similarly hard to believe he’s serious about healing the nation’s bitter divisions that make resolution of the nation’s gun or immigration debates possible.
Reading from a teleprompter Monday, the president called on the country to “condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
He’s right. Unfortunately, Trump has no credibility speaking about hatred and bigotry. We have seen for three years now what happens when he doesn’t have a script.
He warns of Mexican “rapists” coming across the border, disparages immigrants from “s—hole countries,” calls for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States, questions whether an American-born judge of Mexican heritage could be fair, and tells members of Congress who are people of color to “go home.”
The president had an opportunity to lead the nation. Unfortunately, he’s squandered it. If there’s a deal to be made in Congress on gun violence, it will be in spite of Trump, not because of him.