President Trump is spending the holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago. On Monday, he (through the White House) expressed that he’d be “supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system” for gun purchases before hitting the golf course. Indeed, it seems that Trump caught wind of Florida school shooting survivors’ television appearances, including a fiery speech from Emma Gonzalez and a group announcement (that aired on Fox News) for a national march (on March 24) for gun control.
The Washington Post now reports that, although Trump appeared to be busy tweet-blaming the FBI (for being too focused on Russia to prevent Nikolas Cruz from acting) over the shooting, he was also watching cable news coverage of survivor speeches. And he apparently solicited gun-control opinions from his Mar-a-Lago guests:
The president also surveyed Mar-a-Lago Club members about whether he ought to champion gun control measures in the wake of last week’s school massacre in nearby Parkland, telling them that he was closely monitoring the media appearances by some of the surviving students, according to people who spoke with him there.
True, it’s not a great look if Trump was soliciting advice from partygoers on how he should handle the problem while also declining to appear at an upcoming CNN town hall featuring teen survivors. Also, the solution won’t be as simple as soliciting opinions, for the problem finds roots in a decades-long pattern of inaction from lawmakers. Congress routinely accepts millions of dollars from the NRA, which Stoneman Douglas survivors have characterized as “blood money.” Still, Trump does appear to be opening the door to a gun control discussion, so does it really matter why it’s happening?
Yes, the “why” does matter, but results would matter even more at this point.
(Via Washington Post & CNN)