white house Trump decries white supremacy, video games following shootings The president had floated linking changes to background checks with immigration reform, but made no mention of that proposal in his televised address.

President Donald Trump on Monday spread blame for two mass shootings over the weekend, condemning white supremacy while calling for changes to mental health laws and criticizing violent video games.

But Trump sidestepped major proposals to crack down on guns in a televised address, and did not acknowledge Democrats’ claims that his inflammatory immigration rhetoric has contributed to violence like Saturday's attack in El Paso, Texas.


The gunman accused of killing 22 people at a Walmart in the Southwestern border town is suspected of authoring a racist, anti-Hispanic manifesto before the rampage.

“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated,” Trump said. “Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.”

The president had floated on Twitter earlier Monday tying changes to background checks for firearm sales to immigration reform, but made no mention of that proposal three hours later when delivering his prepared remarks.

He did not reference any other gun control measures apart from calling for the implementation of “red flag” laws to confiscate weapons from “those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety.”

Instead, Trump decried the “dark recesses” of the internet — which he said “has provided a dangerous avenue to radicalize disturbed minds and perform demented acts” — and denounced “the glorification of violence in our society” through “gruesome and grisly video games.”

In his roughly 10-minute speech from the White House, Trump announced he is directing the Justice Department to coordinate with government agencies and social media companies “to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike.”

The president also appealed for revisions to America's mental health laws “to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence,” asserting that “mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”

But Rosie Phillips Davis, the president of the American Psychological Association, said in a statement Sunday that “routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing,” adding: “The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them.”

Aside from posts to Twitter and brief remarks before boarding Air Force One on Sunday in New Jersey, the president had said little about the shootings in Texas and Ohio over the weekend that have killed at least 31 people.

“We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded,” Trump wrote online Monday morning. “We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”

We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2019

Congressional Democrats oppose Trump’s push to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and have criticized him for the conditions at overcrowded migrant detention centers, so it appears unlikely any deal could emerge to pair immigration measures with new gun action.

Public polling suggests widespread public support for universal background checks, a policy that most Democratic presidential candidates support. House Democrats passed a bill earlier this year to mandate federal criminal background checks on all gun sales, with some Republican support, but Trump vowed to veto the measure if it reached his desk.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) chastised the president following his address for retreating on his demand for background check legislation. “When he can’t talk about guns when he talks about gun violence, it shows the president remains prisoner to the gun lobby and the NRA,” they said in a joint statement.

It was not immediately clear why Trump sought to link guns and immigration, two issues that are not usually connected. In addition to the border wall, Trump has called for toughening asylum laws and moving to a legal immigration system that prioritizes skills over family ties.

Trump appeared to lay blame for the bloodshed at the feet of the media, a frequent target of his anger.

“The Media has a big responsibility to life and safety in our Country. Fake News has contributed greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years,” Trump wrote Monday on Twitter. “News coverage has got to start being fair, balanced and unbiased, or these terrible problems will only get worse!”

Democrats, however, have cited Trump’s repeated rhetoric decrying illegal immigration and undocumented immigrants as an inciting factor in Saturday morning’s El Paso shooting, which the Justice Department has announced it is treating as a case of domestic terrorism.

Within 13 hours of that attack, a gunman in Dayton murdered nine people early Sunday morning before he was shot and killed by police.

The two shootings, which injured dozens, did not appear connected, and the motive for the Ohio killings is unclear. But high-profile Democrats said Trump bore at least some responsibility for the violence in Texas.

“Words have consequences, and the president has made my community and my people the enemy,” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), a Hispanic congresswoman who represents the vast majority of El Paso in the House of Representatives, told MSNBC on Monday.

“He has told the country that we are people to be feared, people to be hated. He has done that at his rallies. He has done that through his Twitter,” she said.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Monday the shootings “were clearly at least in part a result” of Trump’s “divisive and racist rhetoric” and condemned the president’s proposed legislative fix.

“What’s the connection between background checks for guns and immigration reform? That we have to keep guns out of the hands of the invading hordes of less-than human people coming across our borders?” Nadler told MSNBC. “That’s the implication. That’s disgusting. It reminds me of the 1930s in Germany.”

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a 2020 White House hopeful, was similarly dismissive of Trump’s overture. “That's an absolute freaking joke that he’s going to tie this to the most polarizing issue happening in the United States today around immigration reform,” he told CNN.

The president told reporters Sunday that “hate has no place in our country,” vowing to “take care of it.” But in his June 2015 speech launching his presidential campaign, Trump characterized Mexicans crossing the border as “rapists” who are “bringing drugs” and “bringing crime” into the United States.

Since assuming office, Trump has frequently warned of an “invasion” of Central American migrants, and asked during a May rally in Panama City, Fla., “How do you stop these people?”

When a member of the audience shouted “shoot them” in response, the president laughed and the crowd broke out into cheers and applause. “That’s only in the Panhandle you could get away with that statement. Only in the Panhandle,” Trump said.