WTF Just Happened Today

Monday, August 5, 2019

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1/ Trump "condemn[ed] racism, bigotry and white supremacy" following two mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH over the weekend that left 31 people dead. Trump, who spent the weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., stopped short of endorsing new gun control measures, and instead parroted Republican talking points about the "perils" of mental illness, violence in the media, and violent video games for fostering white nationalism and hatred. In El Paso, the shooter published a four-page "manifesto" on the online message board 8chan about 20 minutes before the attack, saying he wanted to stop the "Hispanic invasion of Texas." Trump failed to acknowledge his repeated use of the word "invasion" to describe asylum seekers and immigrants at the southern border. Trump also cited the threat of "racist hate" with no acknowledgment that his own anti-immigrant rhetoric. Reading from a teleprompter at the White House, Trump also incorrectly referred to Toledo, Ohio instead of Dayton, Ohio as the location of one of the killings. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / The Hill)

• Dayton, Ohio: 9 people were killed and 27 others injured. The shooter used an assault-style rifle with high capacity magazines, wore body armor and a mask. He did not have a police record. (CBS News / Washington Post / Associated Press)

• El Paso, Texas: 22 people were killed and 26 others injured. The shooter used an assault-style rifle. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News)

2/ Hours earlier, Trump called for "strong background checks" and suggested "marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform." Trump made a similar call to improve background checks after a shooting last year in Florida. Trump, however, threatened to veto a gun control bill that passed the House with bipartisan support in February that would require universal background checks. The bill has not been considered by the Senate, which is on recess until September. (CNN / New York Times)

3/ Trump dismissed accusations that his own racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric has stoked racial hatred and helped to provoke would-be mass shooters. Instead, Trump tweeted – without evidence – that the news media is contributing "greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years." The manifesto of the shooter in Texas, however, echoes the s...

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