PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has criticised Barack Obama over a statement released on the weekend mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
Following the shootings that took place Saturday morning in El Paso, Texas and Sunday morning in Dayton, Ohio - which left 31 people dead and dozens injured - Obama called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalises racist sentiments.”
He added: “While the motivations behind these shootings may not yet be fully known, there are indications that the El Paso shooting follows a dangerous trend: troubled individuals who embrace racist ideologies and see themselves obligated to act violently to preserve white supremacy.
“Like the followers of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organisations, these individuals may act alone, but they’ve been radicalised 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.”
While Obama didn’t mention Trump in the statement, the current US President still felt it wasn’t Obama’s place to comment as he shared a quote from “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade.
While on air on Tuesday (Aug 6), Kilmeade said: “Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control.”
“It’s political season and the election is just around the corner. They want to continue to push that racist narrative,” Kilmeade added.
The tweet from Trump received over 9,900 retweets, however many commented on the amount of mass shootings being particularly high during his presidency.
One Twitter user wrote: “There have been 250 mass shootings under #DonaldTrump in 2019 alone. He deserves being condemned he’s not doing anything to keep this country safe.
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