The NRA’s favorite boy is still with them
by digby
In the days since the 17 students and educators were killed in Parkland, Florida, President Donald Trump has surveyed virtually everyone in his orbit about what should be done to stem the epidemic of mass shootings in America.
Family members urged caution.
Close friends made the case to act boldly.
Advisers reminded him of the political risks while lawmakers on the Hill outlined a variety of legislative proposals.
On Wednesday, Trump took his prolonged listening tour public. He convened a room full of survivors and family of school-shooting victims to, ostensibly, talk about how to protect students from the next massacre. And he kept the cameras rolling.
It was riveting television. But, alas, it was largely pre-scripted for the president. By that point, Trump had already developed his preferred prescription: He would largely toe the gun lobby line, albeit in a kinder, gentler tone.
[…]
White House officials and Trump confidants described to The Daily Beast a president who was determined to do something in the face of the Parkland atrocity, and to not be seen as a feckless leader during a period of heightened anger and passion over the gun debate.According to a source close to the president, he wants to be seen as someone who could “help prevent more dead bodies [of children] from piling up,” and that Trump has closely tracked cable-news coverage of the pleas from students and survivors. Much of what those students have had to say has been incredibly rough on President Trump and his pro-gun allies.
And yet, senior Trump aides uniformly expressed incredulity that he will have a volte-face on gun control this time around, given his recent track record. Late last year, after Las Vegas suffered the single largest mass shooting in modern American history, Trump stayed on message in the initial aftermath, and managed to stick to it.
“I don’t think it’s even about guns for him,” a senior Trump administration official told The Daily Beast at the time, regarding Trump’s symbiosis with the gun lobby. “[The] NRA put unprecedented support behind him… and that’s the kind of thing he remembers.”
Apparently, it was Geraldo Rivera who pitched the idea of raising the age of legal gun purchase from 18 to 21. The NR doesn’t like that one so I’d be surprised if it holds. The other stuff, from vague promises on bump stocks to “incentives” for following the law on background checks are all NRA approved policies.
Anyway, here’s Trump this morning.
What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
I hope he doesn’t think that Wayne LaPierre will be satisfied with some nice Trump tweets. He doesn’t play that way. LaPierre backed Trump very early and with great enthusiasm. The NRA also seems to be caught up in the Russia scandal. If, for some reason, Trump is either too arrogant or too stupid to understand what he’s dealing with we could be in for a very interesting political confrontation.
Update: Nah, they’re still besties.
Here’s LaPierre at CPAC:
“I refuse to leave this stage until I say one more time that we must immediately harden our schools every day. Every day young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtually wide-open soft targets for any one bent on mass murder.”
Here’s Trump at another one of his photo-ops today.
“We have to harden our schools, not soften them up … You come into our schools – you’re gonna be dead. And it’s gonna be fast.”
I think he wasn’t talking about students but who knows? They’re going to dead too. And yes, it will be fast.
They want to turn America’s schools into armed prison camps. All so that certain American men and women can keep their toys.
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