Mass shootings: Trump accused of giving ‘safe harbour to hate’

Bloomberg

The deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio have reignited criticism of President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric about immigrants and minorities.
Several Democratic presidential hopefuls called for reinstating the ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004, while many accused Trump of stoking racial animus — he’s described Mexican and Central American immigrants as criminals and gang members — that encouraged the attacks.
Authorities are investigating a possible link between the suspected gunman who opened fire at a Walmart store a few miles from the Mexican border, killing 20 people, and an online manifesto that complained of a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas.
Democrats are demanding the Republican-controlled Senate interrupt its August recess to
pass background check legislation similar to a measure defeated in 2013 after a shooter killed 20 first graders and six staff members at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. But there’s little indication that will happen.
While Trump told reporters “hate has no place in our country and we’re going to take care of it,” Democratic front-runner Joe Biden laid the blame firmly at the president’s door, accusing him of giving “a safe harbour to hate from the Oval Office.”
The double shooting is unlikely to prompt Trump voters to abandon him. The more significant question is whether Democrats choose to make their criticisms this weekend a central 2020 campaign theme, or let it fade into the background.