Uncertain welcome awaits Trump in Ohio and Texas

US President Donald Trump faced an uncertain welcome on Wednesday at the sites of the two latest deadly mass shootings, one of them being investigated as a hate crime.

Trump, whose racially incendiary rhetoric critics blame for stoking violence, was scheduled to visit Dayton, Ohio, scene of a rampage early on Sunday in which nine people and the suspect were killed. He will then travel on to El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed at a Walmart store on Saturday before the gunman was taken alive.

The back-to-back massacres, occurring just 13 hours apart, have reopened the national debate over gun safety and led protesters in Dayton to heckle Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, at a vigil for the shooting victims with chants of “Do something!”

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, said on Tuesday she would welcome the Republican president, who has said he wants to meet law enforcement, first responders and survivors. (RTRS)