"May God bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo"



Toledo? pic.twitter.com/xVkqrveEl9 — Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 5, 2019

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In his first public remarks about the mass shootings over the weekend, President Donald Trump mistook one Ohio city for another.

“We will ensure that all of those who were attacked will not have died in vain. May god bless those who perished in Toledo and may God protect them,” Trump said towards the end of the address.

The attack late Saturday that left 9 people dead didn’t happen in Toledo, but roughly 150 miles away in Dayton. Trump did get the right city at the beginning of the speech.

Toledo. Fck me. — Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) August 5, 2019

Official White House transcript strikes out President Trump’s condolences this morning for Toledo pic.twitter.com/j47JtqcYoU — Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) August 5, 2019

“It’s heartbreaking because he’s showing diminished capacity, mental capacity to be able to lead,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) said of the president’s gaffe in an appearance on CNN. “You can grab anybody on the streets in the United States and they would know Dayton and El Paso.”

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, incidentally, also misidentified the locations of the tragedies speaking at a fundraiser in California Sunday, saying they took place in Houston and Michigan, according to reports. The former vice president later corrected his error.

In the ten-minute speech from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room, Trump denounced the anti-immigrant motivated shooting in El Paso that killed 22.

“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 president said.

Trump also placed some of the blame on the internet, social media, violent video games and mental illness, while seemingly absolving the availability of high-powered firearms.

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” he said.

Earlier Monday, the president suggested working with Democrats on gun control legistlation focused on “strong background checks” if it is tied to immigration reform, though he didn’t provide any specifics in the address.

“We must make sure those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms,” he said.