Sen. Christopher Murphy said President Donald Trump is a "cheerleader" for hate and "making it worse, not better.” | Susan Walsh, File/AP Photo Congress Trump is 'primary cheerleader' for hate in America, says Dem senator

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday branded Donald Trump the “primary cheerleader” for hate in America, as the president faces widespread opprobrium from national Democrats for his heated immigration rhetoric after a pair of mass shootings over the weekend.

“There is a very sophisticated network of hate in this country that started, you know, well before President Trump took office,” Murphy told MSNBC. “But he was their cheerleader, and he is now their primary cheerleader, so he is making it worse, not better.”


The White House did not immediately return a request for comment on Murphy’s criticism.

Trump has been castigated by his political rivals this week after a gunman opened fire Saturday morning at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing nearly two dozen people in the Southwestern border town, which is majority Latino. The suspect, a 21-year-old white man, is alleged to have authored and posted online a racist, anti-Hispanic manifesto before his rampage.

Although Trump condemned “racism, bigotry and white supremacy” on Monday in a televised address , numerous Democratic White House candidates have claimed the president bears at least some responsibility for inciting the attack.

The president has long employed heated rhetoric on the topic of immigration, a practice that dates back to his 2015 presidential campaign launch, when he labeled Mexican immigrants entering the U.S. illegally as “rapists” and “drug dealers.” He has characterized caravans of migrants traveling from Central America as an “invasion” and responded with a smirk at a rally in May when an attendee yelled “shoot them” during a Trump riff about asylum-seekers.

Murphy said Wednesday that “Congress also contributes to the violence,” citing inaction by lawmakers in recent days and the failure to pass major gun reforms after previous mass shootings like the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in his home state.

“When these young men are contemplating exorcising their demons, their disdain for people that are different from them, through a weapon, through the muzzle of a rifle, they notice when Congress doesn't step in and condemn these actions with legislation,” Murphy said.

“And so our silence has become a quiet endorsement for these unhinged individuals who are trading in this hate speech who end up turning guns on individuals,” he added.

Within 13 hours of the shooting in El Paso, a gunman in Dayton, Ohio, murdered nine people early Sunday morning before he was shot and killed by police. Trump is expected to visit both communities Wednesday.