Donald Trump on Tuesday struck back at Barack Obama’s condemnation of rhetoric he’s used, arguing he’s the ‘least racist person,’ and used an edited quote from a ‘Fox & Friends’ host to back up his point.
The president’s defense comes after Obama issued a hard-hitting statement Monday that did not use Trump’s name but called on Americans to ‘soundly reject’ leaders who feed ‘a climate of fear and hatred’ – which was widely interpreted as a denouncement of Trump.
Trump fired back at the charge.
‘I am the least racist person,’ the president argued in an early morning tweet.
President Donald Trump struck back at Barack Obama’s condemnation of rhetoric he’s employed
Barack Obama’s statement on the mass shootings did not mention Trump by name but called on Americans to ‘soundly reject’ leaders who feed ‘a climate of fear and hatred’
To back up his argument he touted that ‘Black, Hispanic and Asian Unemployment is the lowest (BEST) in the history of the United States!’
He also pointed to discussion on ‘Fox & Friends’ – his favorite morning show – that questioned the appropriateness of a former president criticizing the current occupant of the Oval Office.
Host Brian Kilmeade questioned whether President George W. Bush ever condemned Obama after the 2012 mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 26 people died, including 20 children between six and seven years old.
Trump tweeted an edited quote from from the morning show host: ‘Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres. @kilmeade @foxandfriends.’
On ‘Fox & Friends’ Tuesday morning, Kilmeade defended Trump against Obama’s statement and offered numbers on mass shootings in the United States.
‘In the president’s time there has been 17 mass shootings; with President Obama’s 8 years it was 32,’ he said.
It is unclear where Kilmeade received his figures. The FBI does not have an official definition of mass shootings but it’s usually considered when three or more people are killed.
Trump questioned if George W. Bush condemned Barack Obama after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting
Trump cited an edited quote from ‘Fox & Friends’ host Brian Kilmeade
Using that definition, a database from Mother Jones, which tracks mass shootings in the U.S. since 1982, shows 29 occurred during Trump’s time in office while 37 took place while Obama was president.
Kilmeade also brought up presidential protocol.
‘I’m just wondering did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook?’ he said and added: ‘I have news for you. Mass shootings were happening before President Trump ever thought about running for president of the United States.’
In his counter-argument to Obama, Trump also paraphrased a quote from Kilmeade’s fellow ‘Fox & Friends’ host Ainsley Earhardt, tweeting: ‘“It’s political season and the election is around the corner. They want to continue to push that racist narrative.” @ainsleyearhardt @foxandfriends’
‘It’s a political season and elections are around the corner,’ she said, making charge against Democrats later in the conversation that ‘They want to continue to push that racist narrative.’
After the shooting in Newton, Conn., Bush released a statement offering his support to the victims’ families but made no mention of Obama.
‘The entire George W. Bush Institute family expresses its condolences to the people of Newtown, Connecticut — especially the families of the 20 children and 6 teachers and school leaders whose innocent lives were cut short last Friday morning. We grieve with Newtown and with the Nation,’ he said.
‘Perhaps we will never fully be able to answer the question why 20 innocent children, with their entire lives ahead of them, were taken. But we can take immediate action. We can support both the people of Newtown and our Nation’s children as they begin to ask the important questions,’ he added.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway appeared on ‘Fox & Friends’ Tuesday morning to defend Trump against Obama’s statement.
She argued that after the 2017 shooting at Republicans practicing for the Congressional Baseball game – that injured four including Representative Steve Scalise – the White House didn’t attack Bernie Sanders.
Shooter James Hodgkinson volunteered for Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
‘I wanted people to know that when a Bernie Sanders supporter, somebody admitted that he watched a different cable network for his political news, shot up Steve Scalise who was within inches of his life and others on that baseball field two years ago we didn’t run out and say oh, he was hunting down Republicans and Bernie Sanders supporter. We were worried about Steve Scalise’s life being saved,’ she said.
Sanders heavily condemned the shooting and Hodgkinson after the attack.
‘I am sickened by this despicable act. Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms,’ he said in a statement.
The White House roiled Tuesday after Democrats heavily criticized Trump in the wake of the weekend’s mass shootings, where 22 people died in El Paso, Texas, and nine in Dayton, Ohio, for inciting racial tensions with his rhetoric.
But the most hard hitting of all came from Obama.
‘We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people,’ Obama said in a statement posted on his official social media accounts.
He said, ‘It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much – clearly and unequivocally.’
Barack Obama forcefully denounced the rhetoric that Donald Trump has employed while in office to describe immigrants and minorities on Monday in a rare public rebuke of his successor. He’s seen here, speaking in Germany, at an April conference
Obama issued the above statement on Monday in a tweet that came nearly five hours after Trump’s presidential address
Obama threw shade in the direction of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, as well. He tweeted an article that called on his party’s candidates to make gun violence prevention legislation a priority in their campaigns
It was a rare rebuke of his predecessor from Obama, who has been largely silent as Trump has gone on the attack against minority lawmakers and illegal immigrants.
But Obama expressed frustration with trying to tighten gun laws in the wake of mass shootings and called the Sandy Hook incident the worst day of his presidency.
‘We are not helpless here. And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening,’ he said of the environment that has allowed mass casualties to occur.
Obama said that ‘there are indications’ that the shooting suspect in Texas followed a ‘dangerous trend’ in American mass murders.
They tend to be ‘troubled individuals who embrace racist ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy,’ he said.
‘Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, these individuals may act alone, but they’ve been radicalized by white nationalist websites that proliferate on the internet. That means that both law enforcement agencies and internet platforms need to come up with better strategies to reduce the influence of these hate groups,’ he asserted.
He threw shade in the direction of 2020 Democrats who weren’t prioritizing gun violence until the weekend tragedies in a second tweet.
Obama shared an Vox article that noted that only one of the current Democratic presidential candidates – Cory Booker – has a unique plan to reduce firearm fatalities. He underscored the line from his statement that all public officials must be held accountable for American gun violence.
Hours before, Trump had provided his own take on mass shootings that included a denouncement of white supremacy but did not take stock of his own conduct.
Trump blamed the internet, social media, computer games and ‘mental illness’ on Monday for the two mass shootings that killed 30 people this weekend – but finally spoke out against ‘white supremacy’ after being accused of fueling hatred with his own language.
Trump used a White House address to the nation to outline what he said were the causes of the mass murder, accusing the internet of providing a ‘dangerous avenue’ which was twisting minds.
‘Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,’ he said.
He had linked mass murder prevention to illegal immigration in an early-morning tweet that included a call for stricter background checks. The proposal had Democrats comparing Trump’s ideology to pre-war Nazism.
But in a televised Diplomatic Reception Room address, he made no mention of the demand, and instead offered the first full-throated condemnation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism of his presidency.
‘The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online, consumed by racist hate. 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,’ he stated.
A 21-year-old white supremacist is in custody in the El Paso case, which is being treated as a domestic terrorism case. The 24-year-old shooter in Ohio was killed by police and a motive is not yet known in that case.