Former President Donald Trump boasted to a gathering of National Rifle Association members Friday in Pennsylvania that his administration “did nothing” about guns.
After stoking fears that the current president wants to “confiscate your guns and annihilate your God-given right to self-defense,” Trump recapped how he handled calls for stricter gun legislation.
“During my four years, nothing happened!” he bellowed. “And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield. And once you yield a little bit, that’s just the beginning. That’s [when] the avalanche begins.”
Trump: During my four years, I did nothing on guns pic.twitter.com/SYrBIpbXE7
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 9, 2024
The Beast story goes on to remind us of how many gun massacres took place when Trump was in office:
During Trump’s presidency, notable mass shootings occurred in Las Vegas in 2017, Sutherland Springs, Texas the following month, and at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018....The ad practically writes itself -- and it's precisely the kind of ad the Biden campaign needs to run.
Subsequent shootings occurred at a Santa Fe, Texas high school, a Pittsburgh synagogue, a Thousand Oaks, California bar, an El Paso, Texas Walmart in 2019, and outside a Dayton, Ohio bar that same month.
One major reason Trump is doing better in general election polling than he was in 2020 is that voters have misty watercolor memories of the allegedly wonderful Trump years, or at least the first three. They look back and recall that there was no crime, no war, no high prices -- everything was terrific!
The ad should tell voters that the Las Vegas massacre happened on Trump's watch, that the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas massacre happened on Trump's watch, that the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting happened on Trump's watch. It should remind voters of the blood, the pain, the fear. Then we hear Trump saying: "there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing."
The notion that America in the years 2017 through 2019 was paradise on earth needs to be challenged. Committed Democrats understand, but some voters in the middle don't seem to get it. Biden needs to jog their memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment