Trump condemns 'racism, bigotry and white supremacy' after mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump condemns 'racism, bigotry and white supremacy' after mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton
Dylan Stableford, Yahoo News 21 minutes ago
President Trump makes remarks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House Monday as Vice President Mike Pence looks on. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)In his first formal statement on the deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend, President Trump on Monday condemned the "evil" and "wicked" attacks that killed 29 people and injured more than 50 others. The president also condemned "racism, bigotry and white supremacy" while blaming the internet, video games and "mental illness" for the massacres.
"These barbaric slaughters are an assault upon our communities, an attack on our nation and a crime against all of humanity," Trump said from the Diplomatic Room of the White House. "We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil. The cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed and the terror."
On Saturday morning, a gunman killed 20 people and injured more than two dozen others at a Walmart in El Paso. Just 13 hours later, another gunman killed nine people and wounded dozens more in downtown Dayton. Officials have not conclusively determined the motives behind the attacks. The El Paso shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime. An anti-immigrant “manifesto” has been connected to the shooter.
Critics say that Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric promotes racial division and violence.
"The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate," Trump said. "In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.”
The FBI said Sunday that the El Paso shooting “ underscores the continued threat posed by domestic violent extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes .” The bureau added that the investigation is being supported by its "Domestic Terrorism-Hate Crimes Fusion Cell," which was established earlier this year.
The president said his administration has asked the FBI to "identify all further resources they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism. Whatever they need.""We must recognize that the internet has provided a dangerous avenue to radicalized disturbed minds and perform demented acts," Trump continued. "We must shine light on the dark recesses of the internet and stop mass murders before they start. The internet likewise is used for human trafficking, illegal drug distribution and so many other heinous crimes. The perils of the internet and social media cannot be ignored and they will not be ignored."
As he did on Sunday, the president also blamed the killings on mental illness, though authorities have yet to make any public determination of the mental state of the two alleged gunmen.
"Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger, not the gun," the president said.
Earlier Monday on Twitter, Trump called on lawmakers to strengthen background checks and suggested tying that legislation to immigration reform.
In his statement from the White House, which was read from a teleprompter, the president made no such suggestion.
"We cannot allow ourselves to feel powerless," Trump said. "We can and will stop this evil contagion and that task we must honor the sacred memory of those we have lost by acting as one people. Open wounds cannot heal if we are divided. We must seek real, bipartisan solutions. We have to do that in a bipartisan manner that will truly make America safer and better for all."
“The choice is ours and ours alone,” the president added. “It is not up to mentally ill monsters it is up to us. If we are able to pass great legislation after all these years we will ensure that those who were attacked will not have died in vain. May god bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo.”
Sunday’s killings occurred in Dayton, not Toledo, some 150 miles to the north.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who suspended his Democratic presidential campaign in light of the massacre, was quick to notice.
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Trump had his eyes glued to that teleprompter and never looked away from it.
Earlier today on twitter he implied that if the media does not agree with his take on things there will be more bad things happening.
Trump is beyond redemption, and since he is a life long con man and liar, no words of his are ever persuasive.
I just saw this headline:
Hate crimes increased 226% in places Trump held a campaign rally in 2016, study claims
I know he had a rally in El Paso a few months ago. Do you know if he had one in Dayton, OH?
I read he is planning to go to El Paso. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Totally agree.
I bet he brings up the "wall" while there.
I heard that also, but the mayor will welcome him per protocol even if he hates him being there.
Why don't you show us how it's done, "Mr President"?
Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul
Nice self evaluation of yourself Trump.
Trump says he has done more to prevent mass shootings than anyone.. Rolls back Obama era law preventing mentally ill people from buying guns, tells Moscow Mitch to not bring the two house bills regarding mass shootings to the floor for a vote.
Here trumpy, let me help you out here.
"I have done more to promote mass shootings than any president in history..."
No charge donny, feel free to use that.
That just makes me sad
Me too, but it's not far off the mark either.
This is what happens when you have a racist president that has the IQ of a turnip. He spews his hateful rhetoric and his supporters go shoot the people trump hates.
Trumpism is a CULT, no other way to put it.
Well, Trump didn't deliver a 'thoughts and prayers' message, did he?
As usual, Democrats are scrambling to turn Trump's straightforward condemnation of racism, bigotry, and white supremacy into something else that can be used to score political points.
Wow, talk about setting the bar low.
Mostly because dems know it's bullshit. Trump's history of racism is well documented.
Criticism of this speech is disingenuous partisanship. He said exactly the kind of thing he should have said. If he hadn't said this, his haters would be complaining that he "never" says it. By the way, he has said this before, but every time he does, his haters ignore it and pretend it didn't happen, he didn't really mean it, or some other garbage.
Not really, no, not partisanship. He DID say what he should have said, the problem is his past actions and speeches/off the cuff comments are polar opposite of what he said. So we already know that this speech is nothing more than trump lying...yet again....trying to score points from his base before 2020.
It also gives his base a talking point... "See!!!!!??? He condemned racism!!!!!". The reality is that it was nothing more than pandering for votes via another lie.
What speech or action has he taken that endorsed white supremacy and/or shooting a bunch of innocent people?
So you acknowledge that his "base" is a body of voters who condemn white supremacy and random violence. Seems like that's a good thing. Don't we want a president who appeals to people like that?
Again, you think his base is anti-racism. I don't see a reason to complain about that.
Pretty much the opposite of that.
None of that is an endorsement of white supremacy or violence. It's just your inference and your inference is probably politically biased.
Well, that's not what you said. You said he was condemning white supremacy to appeal to his base. Seems pretty straightforward. You think Trump's base likes hearing him condemn white supremacy.
Poorly worded, what I was trying to say is that he said he condemned racism so his base would have a talking point.
You would think if he was sincere, he could have gotten the locations correct. This is typical of the way he speaks when he is forced to do something "Presidential" and reads something stiffly from a teleprompter.
Why? Why is that relevant? You never heard a president (or a rock star) get the name of a town wrong? Somebody made a mistake. It's like a typo. If you want to make something out of it, it's because you're looking for something to make into a problem. Like the 57 states thing with Obama. It's dumb.
Said every hyperpartisan critic of any politician since the invention of written-down speeches.
Because this is typical of his utter lack of attention to anything but his ego. Just as he couldn't get the name of Paradise correct ... if one of his opponents did something like that, his base would be all over the place saying they had Alzheimer's and shouldn't be President.
In his case, it's not Alzheimer's, it's just total indifference.
I'm not saying there should be zero criticism of getting the name of a town wrong. I'm saying two things about it: 1) It's a mistake made by every politician (and probably the fault of speech writers, which they all have) and 2) It doesn't mean anything beyond it being a simple mistake. It doesn't mean he doesn't believe the words he's saying, for example, as has been claimed here.
That is an assessment we all have to make with every politician. Do they really believe the things they say? That's a tricky question sometimes.
For me, I don't think trying to control illegal immigration or secure the border equates to an endorsement of white supremacy. If that were true, Chuck Schumer has been endorsing white supremacy for years.
It's just ridiculous that we have to sit here and read this constant bamboozling nonsense coming from Trump supporters because the site rules allow people to say preposterous things and they cannot be challenged.
Trump is a lifelong con man and liar. This is not opinion. It is a known truth. In the past 4 years he has lied , TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE , thousands of times. And yet you want us to believe he is just another politician, as credible as any of them. It is absurd.
After his epic failure after charlottsville, when it come to race issues, his handlers make him read from a teleprompter. Problem is, the person that is writing the garbage on the teleprompter is as much a racist POS as trump is.
Neither do I, it's what trump SAYS about the people trying to get into the country that is the problem. Obama went after the border crisis as well but the difference is that Obama didn't verbally berate Mexicans in the process which is what trump does on an almost daily basis. THAT is the difference.
You'll never hear him riff off script when performing his mea culpa on racist rhetoric. Get him talking about the supposed "invasion" of immigrants and he'll go on for five minutes, feeding that red meat to the rabid crowd, but when denouncing racist hate he has to deliver a mumbled monotone message read from a script someone else wrote for him. You can almost hear his disgust, not at the bigots, but at having to be forced to address the racist violence he himself inspired. It's like watching a child apologize to their sibling for punching them in the arm after being forced to do so by their parents. "We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil. The cruelty, the hatred, the malice. I will never punch Sarah in the arm again. I'm sooooo sorry... But really, if you think about it Mom and Dad, it's the internets fault, or maybe violent video games and those Godless 'leftists'...".
No one is making you do anything. Ignore my comments if you don't like them.
Go ahead and challenge me, if you can.
You think politicians, as a class of people, have a reputation for being credible? Honestly?
I would love to see Trump speak differently than he does. He has all the class of a 7th grader in an insult contest. That does not mean he endorses white supremacy. A man can be a dick. That doesn't make him Hitler.
I have seen Trump's initial speech on the topic of illegal immigration. It was clear to me from the context and his words that he was not attacking Mexicans generally. He was attacking illegal immigrants specifically. That is a very small niche of people.
I do think he over generalized and created the impression that most of them were criminals. I think that's unfair. However, in no way does he verbally berate Mexicans as a general population.
He was talking about a subset of illegal aliens. It's a niche of a niche.
It amazes me that even though Trump talks in a very simple style, many progressives can't understand even the most basic of nuances. Trump needs to dumb it down even further for those progressives, I guess.
If you think Trump is just as honest as any other politician I feel sorry for you.
Yeah, I'll just bet you do.
Trump's whole shtick is that he is not a politician, lol. Anything but... he says.
Now he's singlehandedly making real politicians look more credible than they have in many decades.
Where is your post condemning Biden for saying he sends his condolences to Houston and Michigan? Oh, wait...he has the holy "D" next to his name, and he may be your vote for President, so he gets a pass.
Got it...
If that had been his only mistake, I would agree but he has a long history of "mistakes". The man speaks at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony and can't even pronounce the word Nazi. It came out as Nozzie.
trmp doesn't use nuance when he speaks. He's more like a gorilla operating a jackhammer while simultaneously driving a tank
Death toll in El Paso now 22 with 2 more victims dying this morning.
It's all that damn internets fault! Yeah, that's what it is, it's not the constant divisive rhetoric coming out of the white house, it's got to be the internet! Sure, that's where these domestic terrorists often watch their hero Trump disseminate his bigoted rhetoric that makes them feel emboldened, but we should blame the tool used to get this stuff just like we should blame the gun for any mass shootings, right? /s Internets don't kill people, radicalized right wing domestic terrorists who wallow in alt-right ideology on the internet kill people...
I'm almost surprised Trump didn't try and blame Al Gore and the "left" who the right often claim "invented the internet" for these mass murders.
They haven't thought of it yet, but you just gave them the idea
They would, but he's not running for president right now.
Touché. I doubt there is anything Trump wouldn't stoop to if he thought it would help him win in 2020.
Gore is too busy chasing Man/Bear/Pig to run.
If guns are not the problem, and people ARE the problem, why would you want the 'problem' to have guns?
Why let people consume alcohol? People are twice more likely to die from an alcohol related death than firearms?
Why would you want the "problem" to have alcohol? Shall we close down all the bars?
What else would you like to restrict from people?
Did you realize the number one killer of children are auto accidents not firearms? Shall we confiscate all vehicles from households with children because "people" are the problem?
And how many 100 round magazines of ammo does a bottle of rum hold?
Please, continue comparing apples and pumpkins.
And how many automobiles are designed with the purpose of SHOOTING people? None. Guns? 99.9% of them.
Any other ridiculous comparisons you would like to make?
The comparison is not ridiculous although your attempt at trying to convince otherwise is.
Deaths per year is the bottom line regardless of the ammo or purpose. If safety and saving lives is the issue, then we need to ban alcohol and vehicles from the "problem".
So you're comparing mass shootings to someone walking into a night club with a stack of cash and buying rounds for everyone in the bar? Really?
Alcohol damage is slow, long term and something each person does to themselves, not something you instantly force on a group of innocent civilians.
And when people abuse alcohol, putting others at risk by driving a deadly weapon while intoxicated, they often get their privilege to drink taken away along with their drivers license.
Vehicles and alcohol are NOT designed with killing humans like GUNS are. Seriously, pretty simple concept!
So you believe death by alcohol or vehicle is less relevant than a death by a gun.
I thought the purpose was to save lives. Apparently it isn't.
Actually alcohol is. It is a toxic poisonous substance that has addicting chemicals, same as cigarettes but as we know those are still legal too.
Again, the point is to save lives, why not ban what is killing them more than firearms?
Yes your concept is simple...people are the "problem" so take away things from people.
Who is doing this?
I have many times....have you?
Why does that make a difference? A lot of things cause death even though they weren't designed with the intention of accomplishing that goal.
And anyway, we still restrict access to those things. You have to be 16 and pass a test to drive. You have to be 21 to drink. You can't do both at the same time, etc.
We get very outraged about death by "assault rifle" and rightly so. Any murder is terrible. There is all sorts of legislation restricting access to these weapons. Yet, according to FBI statistics, about 300-400 people are killed every year with any type of rifle. (By far, most firearm homicides are via handgun.)
Ten times that number of people die in swimming pools every year (yes, it's over 3,000!), yet there is no outcry, no national conversation, no legislation. Those deaths are every bit as tragic and avoidable as rifle deaths. Do people need swimming pools? Of course not. Were they designed to kill people? No, but does that matter?
We can do this with all sorts of deadly objects. The intent of the object is irrelevant to the fact that it leads to death.
And by the way, we have way more rifles in this country than we have swimming pools.
I don't know why it's tired. It's true whether you like the comparison or not. You probably imagine that we would not and could not ever restrict hammers. We absolutely could. I'll give an example how we can't have nice things.
For years, I took Sudafed to relieve nasal congestion from hay fever. It works great. And it was available without a prescription. You just walk into the store and buy it. No biggie.
You can't do that around here anymore. You know why? Meth. Drug dealers figured out you could make methamphetamine from over the counter decongestants. Some assholes misuse a perfectly safe and helpful product and now I have to show ID (which is recorded into a government database) and obtain a limited supply from behind the counter.
You think government cares that I think that's stupid? Hell no. Do you think it has done anything to reduce meth traffic around here? Hell no again.
Yes because it's SELF inflicted. When was the last time we heard, "run for your lives, he has a half gallon of vodka in a plastic bottle, he might throw it at you, take cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"?
When was the last time someone murdered 20 people in a shopping mall with a bottle of booze?
So you drive nails with a rifle? Kinda not the same purpose, is it? Hammer....rifle... Not saying you can't, but using a rifle as a hammer, or, a hammer as a rifle is going to work very well.
But, since you brought it up. In 30 seconds, how many people can you kill with a hammer and how many with a rifle?
Guessing the person with the rifle is going to...well, "win".
I didn't know a self inflicted death was less lethal or irrelevant.
Apparently facts are irrelevant too.
Like I said, saving lives is really not the agenda for many.
Drinking is a choice. Loosing your life shopping isn't.
Loosing your life while driving or riding in a car isn't a choice either. About 36 people per day loose their lives due to drunk drivers and 700 injured. Alcohol related deaths way out pace gun deaths.
I just looked it up. It was hammers and other blunt objects, not hammers alone.
True, but I was using what happened at COSCO.
Trump condemning this is like Michael Moore condemning pizza. Neither would be truthful.
Trump can expect a YUGEEEEEEE crowd of protesters when he deplanes in El Paso.