20 dead and 26 injured in El Paso, Texas; 9 dead and 20 injured in Dayton, Ohio.
(More people died in a 13-hour span in two American cities than had died in the last two years in Afghanistan.)
Let's just start with this: this column like Princeton University professor Eddie Glaude Jr. could give a damn what White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has to say. That he would condemn the statements of Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mr. Glaude as being political in a time when we should be grieving is morally bankrupt. How many people have to die in mass shootings in this country to accept that the president's words matter and that Congressional inaction is inexcusable. The double standard that this White House holds is painfully and tragically obvious, inasmuch as if this white domestic terrorist had been of Muslim faith or Hispanic we would be watching the president on television right now dispensing even more vitriol against those groups than he already has.
Politico's Eliana Johnson who said she is loathe to blame politicians clearly stated that the president has to acknowledge that this country has a white nationalist, domestic terrorism problem. Fmr. Governor Pat McCrory's 'whataboutism' is shameful. He did say that the rhetoric needs to be lowered, but insisted that the term 'invasion' should still be used for the refugee crisis occurring at our southern border. Kasie Hunt correctly pointed out that 'invasion' is threatening where as 'refugee' is not. The rhetoric matters.
What was very telling throughout this week's hour of "Meet The Press" was the different postures people were taking: Defensive on the part of Republicans - Mick Mulvaney and Pat McCrory; Anguish of the faces of the Democrats and progressives - Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Eddie Glaude Jr., Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-TX). Ms. Escobar stated that we have to speak the truth in Congress, which is that there is a gun and hate epidemic in this country. The anguish comes from the fact that Republicans writ large, lead by the president, refuse to acknowledge this truth. One... one elected Republican, George P. Bush (R-TX) has come out to call what happened in El Paso what it is: white terrorism.
The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has stated before Congress that domestic terrorism is a growing problem in the United States, yet the White House has cut funding to combat this problem and diminished it as an issue. Mr. Mulvaney said that the president is the president of all Americans in this country, even though he never acts like it.
"Very fine people on both sides," the president said with regard to Charlottesville. He not just lacks it, but simply does not have the moral clarity or authority to heal this nation in times like these. There hasn't been a single day that the man holding the office of the presidency has been able or willing to bring this country together. Is he to blame for these shootings, no of course not, but has he provided the rhetoric and policies to facilitate these tragedies, absolutely.
This column is so disgusted today that we simply refuse to write his name.
Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC News; Eliana Johnson, Politico; Eddie Glaude Jr., Princeton Univesity; Pat McCrory, fmr. governor North Carolina
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