The Boston Globe - 08.08.2019

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 The Boston Globe The Nation A

have triedto soothe them, and
further proof of his staff’s in-
ability to persuade him to fol-
low the norms of presidential
behavior.
Trumphimself finished the
day claimingsuccess.“We had
an amazing day,” he told report-
ers in El Paso. Of his earlier
stop in Dayton,he said:“The
love, the respect for the office of
the presidency — I wish you
couldhave beenin there to see
it.”
He was particularly upset by
excerpts froma news confer-
encein OhiofeaturingSenator
Sherrod Brown, a Democrat,
and Nan Whaley, the Demo-
cratic mayor of Dayton, that he
had seen whileflying from Day-
ton to El Paso. Brown, who
tookan otherwise respectful
tone towardthe president, sug-
gested that some victims at the
hospital had privately com-
plained about Trump’s visit and
that he has used racist and divi-
sive language. Trumpreacted
with fury.
The presidentvisited the
two cities after intense criti-
cism that his fixation withille-
gal immigration has stoked
white nationalism and that he
has failed to take substantive
action,includingby backing
substantial gun controlmea-
sures,to combat massshoot-
ings.
Trumpwas greeted by pro-
testers in bothDaytonand El
Paso as well as by supporters
defendinghim at a moment
whenconservatives say he is
beingunfairly blamedfor trag-
ediescommitted by deranged

uTRUMP
ContinuedfromPageA

individualsacting irrationally.

In Republican-leaningDay-

ton, Trump’s visit was met with

smallgroups of protesters who

waved signsthat said “Dump

Trump”and “Do Something!”

Counterdemonstrators waved

signs supportive of Trump.

The reception was especially

bitter in El Paso, a border city

that Trump has repeatedlycrit-

icizedand wheremany people

blame his anti-immigrant mes-

saging and talk of a cross-bor-

der “invasion” for inspiring the

gunmanwho killed 22 people

at a Walmart here.

Protesters staged a daylong

demonstration in a parknear

the University MedicalCenter

of El Paso, and when Trump ar-

rived at a nearby police emer-

gency operations center, a

group greeted him with a large

whitebedsheet that had the

words“Racist, go home” writ-

ten on it. At a memorial site in

a parking lot near the Walmart,

wheremourners had erected

smallwhitecrossesand left

hundredsof flowers,balloons,

and candles, the appearance of

a woman in a red “Make Ameri-

ca Great Again” hat provoked

shoutingand profanity.

Although Biden spoke for

many Democrats on Wednes-

day whenhe said in a speech

that Trumphas “fanned the

flamesof whitesupremacy,”

Trump again deniedthat before

he departed fromWashington

in the morning. But even as he

did so, he repeated his past

claim of equivalence between

extremists on the left and right.

“I am concernedaboutthe

riseof any group of hate,”

Trumptold reporters before

leaving the WhiteHouse. “Any

group of hate, I am — whether

it’s white supremacy, whether

it’s any other kind of suprema-

cy, whether it’s antifa, whether

it’s any group of hate, I am very

concernedabout it.”

In recent days, Trump’s

aides have also soughtto draw

attention to other acts of vio-

lence committed by people who

have expressed leftist political

views. But many currentand

formerlaw enforcementoffi-

cials are increasingly con-

cerned that white nationalist

violence is growing into a ma-

jor domestic terrorist threat.

In his comments to report-

ers Wednesday morning,

Trumprepeated his previous

attackson unauthorized immi-

grants and called Biden “a pret-

ty incompetent guy” who has

“truly lost his fastball.”

The president heldback

frommakingany further public

statements once he arrived in

Daytonlater in the morning,

visitingprivately withfamilies

and victims as well as emergen-

cy and medical personnel at

Miami Valley Hospital. But

even as his spokeswomansaid

the event was never meant as a

photoop, DanScavino, the

president’s social mediadirec-

tor, posted on Twitter pictures

from insidethe hospital“The

Presidentwas treated like a

Rock Star inside the hospital,

which was all caught on video,”

he tweeted. “They all lovedsee-

ing theirgreat President!”

The White House quickly

followedup withcampaign-

style videofeaturing images of

Trumpand the first lady, Mela-

nia Trump,shaking hands with

first respondersand chatting

with smiling hospital workers.

Brownand Whaley joined

Trump on the visit to the hospi-

tal, where they said they each

pressedthe presidentto take

moreaggressiveaction to pass

universal backgroundchecks

for gun ownership.

In the news conference soon

after Trump departed Dayton

for El Paso, Brown and Whaley

said the president refusedto

commit to signingsuch a bill,

but told themthat he would

“get thingsdone.” Earlierin the

day, Trumptold reporters that

he supported background

checks,as he has before,but

did not providedetailsabout

what legislation he might ap-

prove.

He also said he sees ‘‘no po-

litical appetite’’ for banning as-

saultrifles.

Brown said Trump“was re-

ceived as well as you can expect

by the patients.”

“They are hurting,” Brown

said. “He was comforting. He

andMelania did the right

things.It’s his job in part to

comfort people.I’m glad he did

it.”

But later on Air Force One,

Trumpsoonattacked the sena-

tor and the mayor on Twitter.

“Their news conferenceafter I

left for El Paso was a fraud,” the

president wrote. “It bore no re-

semblance to what took place.”

In Dayton, the mainprotest

of about a hundredpeople ma-

terialized alonga stretch of

SouthMain Street, in a grassy

field a few blocks from the hos-

pitalwhereTrumpwas visiting

some of the shootingvictims.

MaterialfromTheWashington

Post was usedin thisreport.

ByJess Bidgood
GLOBESTAFF
WASHINGTON — Last
weekend’s senselesscarnage
thrust the politics of gun con-
trol into the centerof the 2020
Democratic presidentialprima-
ry, promptingnumerouscandi-
dates to make or reiterate full-
throated calls for sweeping gun
reforms, like assault weapon
buybacks or national licensing
systems.
Among the candidates who
have yet to releasea detailed
gun safety policy is an unex-
pected name: Senator Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts, who
has made ambitious and pro-
gressive policy proposals the
bedrockof her presidential
race. There are 29 policy an-
nouncementslisted on War-
ren’s campaign website, but
noneof themspecifically men-
tion guns.
That is likely to change by
this weekend, however: A cam-
paignaide said she is set to re-
leasea new plan on gunsprior
to a forum organized by Every-
townfor Gun Safety and other

groups in Iowa on Saturday.

The plan will dealat least in

part with enforcement, accord-

ing to a person familiar with it,

calling for strengtheningthe

BureauofAlcohol,Tobaccoand

Firearmswith more money and

tougherregulations, and revok-

ing licenses from gun dealers

who violate rules.

Warren has consistently

called for stronger gun safety

measures in Congress, winning

her high praise from gun safety

groups. But the fact that she

waited until the eighth month

of her campaignto deliver a

comprehensive policy on an is-

sue at the heart of some of her

opponents’platforms gives

theirallies an opening to sug-

gest that she has a hardtime

getting out of her ownpolicy

wheelhouse.

“The senator doesan ex-

tremely good job dealingwith

issuesthat fall within the realm

of economics,” said Bakari Sell-

ers, a former state lawmaker in

SouthCarolinawhohas en-

dorsed California Senator Ka-

mala Harris. “Some of the other

issues... she struggles with.”

Warren has alreadyreleased

an immigration plan, and in re-

cent days she has stronglycon-

demned whitesupremacy, do-

mestic terrorism,and called

President Trump a racist.

But she has a worldview that

is at once sweeping and deeply

focused,relating most of soci-

ety’s ills backto the issuesof

corruption, corporate greed,

and economicinequality that

animate her campaign. While

critics like Sellers suggest her

focus on her core themes is lim-

iting, other Democrats see that

focus as an asset for her cam-

paign that helps her link differ-

ent issues together.

“No matter the issue, it can

connect backto an overall

theme,whichI thinkis power-

ful for voters,” saidAndrew

Feldman, a progressive Demo-

cratic strategist in Washington.

This week, instead of imme-

diately rolling out a new gun

plan,she tied gun controldi-

rectly to her concerns about the

role of money in politics.

“The majority of Americans

wantto see us put sensible leg-

islation in place to get the guns

out of the handsof peoplewho

pose threats like this, and yet it

doesn’t happen and the reason

for that is becausethe gun man-

ufacturers ownWashington,”

Warren said in an interview on

MSNBC on Sunday, vowing to

do “everything I can by execu-

tive order,” and calling to get rid

of the filibuster so the Senate

can pass new gun laws with a

simple majority.

Other candidates, mean-

while,have alreadymadede-

tailed, multipart gun safety pro-

posalsa central tenet of their

campaigns.In April,Harris re-

leased a plan to take four specif-

ic executive actionsto increase

background checks, take law-

breaking gun dealers to court,

andmore.The following

month,New Jersey Senator

Cory Booker rolledout a 14-

pointgun violenceplanthat is

anchored by a federal licensing

programforgunowners.

Followingthe shootings over

the weekend, two othercandi-

dates — Washington Governor

Jay Inslee and South Bend May-

or Pete Buttigieg— eachrolled

out new multistep gun safety

planson Tuesday, both of which

echoedBooker’s call for nation-

wide gun licensing.

On Sunday, Vermont Sena-

tor Bernie Sanderscalledfor a

ban on making, selling, and

transferring assault weapons

and a buyback program; the fol-

lowing day, in a CNN interview,

former vice president Joe Biden

endorsed a nationalbuyback

program, and his campaign is

touting his efforts to passthe

1994 ban on assault weapons

and high capacity magazines,

which has since expired.

Gun safety advocates say the

issue is likely to become central

in boththe primary and the

general election, markinga sig-

nificant shift from the 2008and

2012 elections.

“What we’re going to see in

2020 is a referendum on the fu-

ture of firearms policy in Amer-

ica,” said Peter Ambler, the ex-

ecutivedirector of the gun safe-

ty group Giffords. He said guns

were also a galvanizing issue for

Democratic voters in last year’s

midterm elections.

Warren is not the only top-

tier candidate whohas yet to

lay out a comprehensivegun

policy. Biden has not released

one, either, althoughan aide

said the campaign will do so.

At times overthe course of

her campaign,Warrenhas

soundeda cautiousnoteon

gunsthat is at oddswithsome

of her morecrusading liberal

politics. During the first Demo-

cratic debate, she calledfor new

researchintogun violence,

whichhas gotten little govern-

mentfunding in part because of

an NRA-backed amendment

from the 1990s that stymied

gun research by the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

In a videointerview with

The New York Times, she em-

phasizeda cultural connection

to gunsdrawn from her child-

hoodin Oklahoma.“My family

had gunswhenI was growing

up. My brothers have guns,” she

said,adding, “We needto have

better gun safety laws in place,

serious laws.”

Warren speaks more about

the issueon the campaigntrail

if she is asked specifically about

it by audience members, and of-

ten seeks to broaden the con-

versation beyond mass shoot-

ings to the pain of everyday gun

violence — a point somegun

control advocates appreciate.

“It’s not just the mass shoot-

ings that make headlines, it’s

the childrenwhoare shoton

our sidewalks, in our play-

grounds and backyards, visiting

a friend,” Warren said in Lan-

sing, Mich., recently.

“We know what we need to

do,” Warrensaid, callingfor

universal background checks,

closinggunshowloopholes,

and to “take the weapons of war

off our streets.”

Jess Bidgoodcanbe reached at

[email protected].

Warren lags other candidates on a plan for gun control

Has yet to make

sweeping proposal

onkey issue

Divisions are laid

bare as Trump

visits grieving cities

JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATEDPRESS

Demonstratorsgatheredat MiamiValley Hospitalin Dayton,Ohio,to protest a visitby PresidentTrump.

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