President Trump Addresses Nation in Wake of Multiple Mass Shootings

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the nation mourns those lost in the horrific shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio — as well as others killed in places like Chicago — Democrats have sunk to new lows in their attempt to demonize ‘thoughts & prayers.’ Moreover, Democrat presidential candidates are blaming the shootings directly on the President of the United States. Left-leaning media is emphasizing one shooter’s white nationalist views, while purposely ignoring the same shooter’s radical environmental views.

For his part, President Trump delivered a very clear message in addressing the nation Monday after the tragic shootings. The president condemned hate and racism in unmistakable terms, and, while he called for bipartisan efforts to prevent such shootings before they happen, he touched on a keystone that relies on ‘We the People,’ not the government.

“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,” declared President Trump.

While he did dedicate a portion of his remarks toward gun control legislation, he also focused in on mental illness and early warnings as areas of focus. “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger,” he said, “Not the gun.”

But tackling the kind of sickness that festers in some individuals to the point of tragedy is bigger than the partisan fight over gone control. Even if congress passes more gun control legislation, these tragedies will sadly still happen, and our rights will be sacrificed in the process.

The keystone that Trump touched on was culture. Culture, upstream of politics, is where our collective idiosyncrasies combine and rain down on all of us in our daily lives. As individuals we can choose what we want to celebrate in our culture, and our communities reflect those choices. The more each one of us values life, the stronger the cultural pull toward life versus violence and death.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. […] It is too easy for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately,” said President Trump.

Cultural change is hard, because it merely an exponent of personal changes on the individual level. Yet these kind of seemingly intangible changes would likely do more to address or soften the underlying issues fueling mass shooters than any opportunistic gun control push ever will.

In spite of the many Democrats this may upset, our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families of victims and the communities affected by these tragedies.