President Trump will visit Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday to "grieve with them, pray with them, offer condolences" after back-to-back mass shootings that left 22 victims dead in El Paso and nine in Dayton, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Tuesday. Trump also wants "to have a conversation" about ways to head off future mass shootings, he added. "That's a tough assignment for a president who thrives on division and whose aides say he views discord and unease about cultural, economic, and demographic changes as key to his re-election," The Associated Press notes.
Officials in both cities are wary of Wednesday's visits. El Paso residents and lawmakers have asked Trump to stay away, saying his anti-immigrant and anti-Latino rhetoric contributed to the shootings, and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said Tuesday that while she will meet with Trump on Wednesday, she was disappointed with his short-lived calls for post-shooting unity Monday. "Everyone has it in their power to be a force to bring people together, and everybody has it in their power to be a force to bring people apart — that's up to the president of the United States," she said.
On Tuesday night, Trump tweeted that one of his El Paso critics, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D), "should respect the victims & law enforcement — & be quiet!" O'Rourke "is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him," Trump added, an apparent reference to their dueling El Paso rallies in February. And as CNN noted Tuesday night, Trump's rhetoric at that February rally seems unlikely to endear him to El Paso residents on Wednesday.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In a USA Today/Ipsos poll conducted Monday and Tuesday, 50 percent of respondents — including 23 percent of Republicans — said Trump bore some responsibility for the shootings, and 69 percent said racism and white nationalism was a contributing factor.
-
'Is it OK to be happy when the world is falling apart?'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will online age checks doom internet freedom?Today's Big Question Or do they protect children from harm?
-
At least 800 dead in Afghanistan earthquakespeed read A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit a mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan
-
Trump crypto token launch earns family billionsSpeed Read The World Liberty Financial token is now the Trump family's 'most valuable asset'
-
RFK Jr. names new CDC head as staff revoltSpeed Read Kennedy installed his deputy, Jim O'Neill, as acting CDC director
-
DC prosecutors lose bid to indict sandwich throwerSpeed Read Prosecutors sought to charge Sean Dunn with assaulting a federal officer
-
White House fires new CDC head amid agency exodusSpeed Read CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted after butting heads with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official saysSpeed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judgesSpeed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges
-
Trump expands National Guard role in policingSpeed Read The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
-
Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa CookSpeed Read The move is likely part of Trump's push to get the central bank to cut interest rates
