Barack Obama attacks Donald Trump's rhetoric in wake of El Paso and Dayton mass shootings calling for leaders to end 'language that normalizes racist sentiments' and tells Americans to ditch politicians who demonize immigrants

• e-mail

Barack Obama forcefully denounced the rhetoric that Donald Trump has repeatedly employed to describe immigrants and minorities in a rare public rebuke on Monday of his successor.

Obama issued a hard-hitting statement - which did not use the president's name - hours after Trump's address to the nation blamed gun violence on mental illness, the internet and social media. 

'We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don't look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people,' Obama said in a tweeted statement.

While the statement did not directly mention Trump, and Obama allowed that racist language is 'not new,' the intended target of his criticisms was clear.  

He said, 'It has no place in our politics and our public life. And it's time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much - clearly and unequivocally.'

Barack Obama forcefully denounced the rhetoric that Donald Trump has employed while in office to describe immigrants and minorities on Monday in a rare public rebuke of his successor. He's seen here, speaking in Germany, at an April conference

Obama issued the above statement on Monday in a tweet that came nearly five hours after Trump's presidential address

Obama threw shade in the direction of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, as well. He tweeted an article that called on his party's candidates to make gun violence prevention legislation a priority in their campaigns 

'We are not helpless here. And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening,' he said of the environment that has allowed mass casualties to occur.

Obama said that 'there are indications' that the shooting suspect in Texas followed a 'dangerous trend' in American mass murders. 

They tend to be 'troubled individuals who embrace racist ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy,' he said.

'Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations, these individuals may act alone, but they've been radicalized by white nationalist websites that proliferate on the internet. That means that both law enforcement agencies and internet platforms need to come up with better strategies to reduce the influence of these hate groups,' he asserted.

He threw shade in the direction of 2020 Democrats who weren't prioritizing gun violence until the weekend tragedies in a second tweet. 

Obama shared an Vox article that noted that only one of the current Democratic presidential candidates - Cory Booker - has a unique plan to reduce firearm fatalities. He underscored the line from his statement that all public officials must be held accountable for American gun violence.

 Hours before, Trump had provided his own take on mass shootings that included a denouncement of white supremacy but did not take stock of his own conduct. 

Trump blamed the internet, social media, computer games and 'mental illness' on Monday for the two mass shootings that killed 30 people this weekend - but finally spoke out against 'white supremacy' after being accused of fueling hatred with his own language.

Trump used a White House address to the nation to outline what he said were the causes of the mass murder,  accusing the internet of providing a 'dangerous avenue' which was twisting minds.

'Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,' he said. 

He had linked mass murder prevention to illegal immigration in an early-morning tweet that included a call for stricter background checks. The proposal had Democrats comparing Trump's ideology to pre-war Nazism.

But in a televised Diplomatic Reception Room address, he made no mention of the demand, and instead offered the first full-throated condemnation of white supremacy and domestic terrorism of his presidency.

'The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online, consumed by racist hate. 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,' he stated.

Trump said he was directing the Justice Department to develop an advanced monitoring system for social media channels to catch would-be mass murderers before they commit a crime - a new potential clash with the social media giants whom he has repeatedly attacked in recent months.

'We must recognize that the Internet has provided a dangerous avenue to radicalize disturbed minds and perform demented acts. We must shine light on the dark recesses of the Internet and stop mass-murders before they start,' he said.

Trump also assailed violent video games, before finally addressing the issue of guns, where he offered only a call for a 'red flag' law and said he'd take other steps such as involuntary confinement to keep mentally-ill individuals from getting their hands on firearms. 

His scripted remarks came after two days of muted response to the shootings.

They are unlikely to silence his critics with Democrats - especially some of the 2020 field - calling for gun control action and condemning the president's language.

Trump's speech, with Mike Pence beside him, noted in passing the high number of Mexican citizens killed, but did not address directly the contents of Patrick Crusius' hate-filled online manifesto.

'We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil, the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed and the terror,' Trump said. 'Our hearts are shattered for every family whose children, husbands and wives were ripped from their arms and their lives.'

He promised to 'act with urgent resolve' to prevent more deaths. 'America weeps for the fallen. We are a loving nation, and our children are entitled to grow up in a just, peaceful and loving society,' he said.

'Together, we lock arms to shoulder the grief. We ask God in heaven to ease the anguish of those who suffer. And we vow to act with urgent resolve.'

Donald Trump called on Monday for a 'cultural change' in America to curtail gun violence in an Diplomatic Reception Room address, in which he denounced 'white supremacy' and 'racist hate' online he said is driving sick people to commit mass murders

 Trump instead focused on the online elements of the crime.

'The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online, consumed by racist hate. In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,' he said.

'These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.

'We must recognize that the Internet has provided a dangerous avenue to radicalize disturbed minds and perform demented acts. We must shine light on the dark recesses of the Internet and stop mass-murders before they start.

'The Internet, likewise, is used for human trafficking, illegal drug distribution and so many other heinous crimes. The perils of the Internet and social media cannot be ignored, and they will not be ignored.'

 Trump also said on Monday that it was time to stop glorifying violence in society, and pointed to 'gruesome and grisly' video games.

'It is too easy today 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.' 

He also spoke of legislating for the death penalty - which is already being pursued in El Paso - but not of the substantive gun reforms the Democrats are demanding.

Instead, he focused on the access to guns those who are deemed dangerous can have. 

'Fourth, we must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red-flag laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders,' he said.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway demanded that Democratic candidates using the August recess to campaign for Trump's job return to Washington, rather than take 'pot shots' at him from the campaign trail

'Today I'm also directing the Department of Justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes and mass-murders face the death penalty, and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively and without years of needless delay.'

It was not clear on Monday whether the president was considering executive action address the problem. Multiple officials at the White House were unable to spell out or provide additional information on Trump's proposed recommendations. 

West Virginia moderate Joe Manchin, the lead Democratic sponsor of a bipartisan background check bill, said he'd spoken to Trump today, as had his Republican co-sponsor Pat Toomey, and the president seemed open to backing their bill now.

'This morning, we both separately discussed with President Trump our support for passing our bipartisan legislation to strengthen background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, the dangerously mentally ill, and terrorists while respecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners and all Americans. The president showed a willingness to work with us on the issue of strengthening background checks,' he said.

'Mass shootings and violent gun crimes are tragic American problems. It is past time for Congress to take action and the Manchin-Toomey background check legislation represents an opportunity to make actual bipartisan progress to help keep Americans safe.'

Trump was under heavy pressure on Monday to condemn white nationalism unequivocally, after he claimed it wasn't a global phenomena after a massacre in March. He was also being pressed to back bold, new measures to prevent mass murders - including a demand for immediate action from an absent Congress.

He faces an escalating crisis over the shootings, with political opponents accusing him of using the same language as Patrick Crusius, the alleged El Paso mass-murderer.

'Let's be very clear. You use the office of the presidency to encourage and embolden white supremacy. You use words like 'infestation' and 'invasion' to talk about human beings. We won't truly speak with one voice against hatred until your voice is no longer in the White House,' said former Vice President and 2020 candidate Joe Biden.

Biden said in an CNN interview, that was set to air on Monday evening, that the words are racist dog whistles.  

'Look, this is a president who has said things no other president has said since Andrew Jackson. Nobody's said anything like the things he's saying. And the idea that it doesn't contribute to or legitimate or make it more rational for people to think that we, in fact, can now speak out, we can speak out and be more straightforward, and we can make this an issue?' he asked.   

'This is about separating people into the good and bad in his mind. It's about making – it's an access to power. It's a trait used by Charlatans all over the world to divide people, divide them, pit them against one another,' he told CNN host Anderson Cooper in an early clip.

Even Anthony Scaramucci, the sitting president's former communication director, said Trump was at risk of losing some of his key supporters, if he didn't tone down his remarks, in the wake of the shooting.

'This sort of rhetoric, this sort of disunity stuff, is at risk of overpowering the policy,' he told CNN.

Trump fanned the flames after he called for 'strong background checks' in the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton – that he immediately tied gun control to immigration reform, despite both suspected murderers being white Americans.

Worse, the El Paso suspect left a 2,300-word manifesto that raged about the 'Hispanic invasion of Texas' that appeared online minutes before the shooting began on Saturday at a Wal-Mart in the southern border city.  

The FBI is treating the shooting as a domestic terrorism attack. In Dayton, Ohio, the 24-year-old shooter, who died at the scene, was also a white man.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway urged reporters to focus on Trump's on-camera remarks on Monday and forget the tweet that preceded his call to action. 

She also demanded that Democratic candidates using the August recess to campaign for reelection or Trump's job return to Washington on their own accord, rather than complain from the campaign trail that the House and Senate call an emergency session.  

'So if they want to come back - it looks like they just want to be on TV,' she said. 'They spent most of the weekend on TV, screaming and reaming, lying in many ways, and I thought, expressing some condolence, but also just taking pot shots at the president and some of his closest advisers ... I don't think that's very helpful.'

She said Trump deserves credit for holding his tongue against Democrats who 'shamelessly' politicized the tragedies while he pushed national unity. 

'There's a difference between those who want to be president, and try to politicize things, and he is the president and did not respond in kind,' she said, carefully implying who she meant, without running afoul of the law.

A non-partisan oversight body recommended that she be fired earlier in the year for attacking the president's opponents by name, in her capacity as a White House adviser, on government property.   

Either way, Trump's move to link background checks with immigration reform was dead on arrival, with one senior Democrat comparing the president's rhetoric to 1930s Germany.

Trump's early morning tweet, ahead of his expected statement at the White House, said: 'We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them.

'Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!'

Trump upped the rhetoric by blaming 'fake news' media for nation's 'anger and rage,' shrugging aside Democrats' weekend-long criticism that his rhetoric has fueled deadly rage. 

Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler compared Trump's idea of pairing immigration reform with background checks to Nazi Germany

Several Democrats immediately dismissed Trump's idea of pairing immigration reform with background checks, with a few comparing it to Nazi Germany.

'What's connection between background checks for guns and immigration reform? That we have to keep guns out of the hands out of the invading hordes? Of less than human people coming across our borders? That's the implication,' Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' on Monday morning after Trump's tweet suggestion.

'That's disgusting. It reminds me of the 1930s in Germany,' he said.

Beto O'Rourke, who is from El Paso and running for the Democratic presidential nomination, also compared the U.S. under Trump to Nazi Germany.

'The only modern western Democracy that I can think of that said anything close to this is the Third Reich, Nazi Germany,' he said on 'Morning Joe.'

After Trump's address, Joe Biden joined the fray, saying: 'Mr. President, immigration isn't the problem. White nationalism is the problem. America's inaction on gun safety legislation is the problem. It's time to put the politics aside and pass universal background checks and an assault weapons ban. Lives depend on it.'

California congressman and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said Trump should be 'looking inward,' if he truly wants to end violent crime.

'It's not the fault of the press, immigration, or video games. The rise of white supremacist terror has other causes. If Trump wants to end this bloodshed, he must begin by looking inward. Words have power, and this President’s words are inciting horror,' he said.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, whose home state of Connecticut continues to grieve the school children who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary,  assailed Trump for a 'transparent play to do nothing' about gun violence.

'Tying background checks to immigration reform is a transparent play to do nothing. There is no need to do them together. Background checks has already passed the House - w Republican votes. If Trump asked McConnell to support it, it would pass in a week. FYI - he won't do that,' said Murphy, who has pushed for tougher gun laws after the 2012 school shooting, in which 26 people died. 

And Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer renewed his call for the Senate to bring up background check legislation already passed by the House. 

'Instead of flailing around blaming everything under the sun, if the president is serious about 'strong background checks' there's one thing he can do: Demand Sen. McConnell put the bipartisan, House-passed universal background checks bill up for a vote,' he tweeted. 

He reiterated the call later in a joint statement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

'It is incumbent upon the Senate to come back into session to pass this legislation immediately,' they said of the House bills. 'It took less than three hours for the President to back off his call for stronger background check legislation. When he can’t mention guns while talking about gun violence, it shows the President remains prisoner to the gun lobby and the NRA.' 

Bernie Sanders, who has been supporting of the gun rights as a Vermonter than some of his competitors, threw his weight behind universal background checks in a tweet that he directed at Trump and GOP leader in the Senate. 

He said, '[T]he country is demanding action right now. Will you side with the American people or will you just do what the @NRA wants?'

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren also told McConnell in a Monday tweet that 'you must bring the Senate back into session to vote on this important legislation.' She endorsed both House bills and called for new restrictions on gun makers.

'If we want to end gun violence, we need to tackle corruption in Washington head-on. Right now the gun manufacturers—the guys who hire all the lobbyists and make all the campaign contributions—are pulling all the strings. We must fight it together,' she tweeted.  

Tim Ryan, a Ohio congressman and Democratic presidential candidate, told McConnell in a CNN appearance, 'Get off your ass!'

'Get off your ass, Mitch McConnell. This is ridiculous. He's been bottlenecking what's happening, with his protecting the NRA, for his entire career,' he exclaimed. 'But the country is passing you by, and now the point of the spear is coming at you.

'Because we know that you're the one who has been protecting Donald Trump on a variety of issues, particularly on this one. And it's time for the Senate to get off their rear ends and do something about it. People are getting killed here, all over the country,' he asserted.

On Sunday, several other Democrats running for president blamed Trump's rhetoric for inflaming racial tensions around the nation. 

'When you give a safe harbor to hate from the Oval Office, it gives license to extremism all across the country,' Biden said at a fundraiser in California. 

'You reap what you sow, and Donald Trump has been sowing this kind of hatred in our country,' Cory Booker said on MSNBC. 

The president 'is encouraging this. He doesn't tolerate it,' O'Rourke said on CNN. 

He doubled down on calling Trump a racist in a tweet slamming the president's call to pair background checks with immigration reform.

'Only a racist, driven by fear, could witness what took place this weekend—and instead of standing up to hatred, side with a mass murderer's call to make our country more white. We are so much better than this president,' O'Rourke tweeted. 

He said in a fiery appearance on CNN that Trump is responsible for the attacks. 

'The Commander in Chief is sending a very public signal to the rest of this country about what is permissible, and in fact even what he encourages to happen,' O'Rourke said on CNN of the shootings. 'So let's connect the dots here on what is happening, and why it is happening, and who is responsible for this right now.' 

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg agreed. 'I mean at best he's condoning and encouraging white nationalism,' he said on CNN of Trump.  

Booker was more direct, claiming that Trump is responsible for the shootings that cumulatively resulted in 29 deaths this weekend.

'I turned my attention to the person who is leading this country, who is, in my opinion, in this moral moment, who is failing. That at the end of the day, especially since this was a white supremacist manifesto, that I want to say with more moral clarity that Donald Trump is responsible for this,' Booker said Sunday on NBC.

Jerrold Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, also said Trump's 'racist rhetoric' inspires deadly attacks.

'I am anguished over reports that the shooting suspect in El Paso posted a manifesto that included rants about a 'Hispanic invasion' before the attack,' Nadler said in a statement Sunday. 'This manifesto appears to echo the same anti-immigrant sentiment that permeates the language espoused by President Trump.' 

Nadler conceded that the shooters bore sole responsibility for their actions but said Trump was not blameless. 

'Ultimately it is the perpetrators who bear responsibility for their heinous acts of domestic terrorism, but President Trump's racist rhetoric has stoked the flames of hate and white supremacy, and increased the likelihood that people will commit mass murder based on these evil notions,' he continued, calling on Trump to 'stop his racist rhetoric that has the effect of encouraging mass murder.' 

Fellow Democratic primary candidate Pete Buttigieg also said Trump is a white nationalist, claiming that 'at best' the president is 'condoning and encouraging white nationalism'

Cory Booker claimed that Trump is responsible for the shootings that cumulatively resulted in 29 deaths this weekend

Both alleged shooters this weekend where white men. There are reports that the gunman identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius in El Paso told police when he was taken into custody that he was motivated because he wanted to kill as many Mexicans as possible

The second shooter acted about 12 hours later, targeting a street where people go out drinking in Dayton, Ohio. The 24-year-old shooting suspect killed nine people and was shot dead by police