Associated Press
- Democratic presidential candidates condemned the two mass shootings that claimed 29 lives in 24 hours as a deadly result of a toxic culture that is "encouraged" by President Donald Trump.
- Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker slammed Trump’s rhetoric regarding immigration and attitudes towards immigrants.
- Police are investigating a manifesto that was seemingly left by the El Paso shooter that expressed white supremacist views specifically targeted towards Mexcian immigrants to the US.
- Trump tweeted his condolences about the shootings, but remained at his New Jersey golf club over the weekend.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Democratic presidential candidates condemned the two mass shootings that claimed 29 lives in 24 hours as a toxic symptom of dangerous rhetoric that is used by President Donald Trump.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker spoke out against the climate of "hate" stemming from Trump’s rhetoric regarding immigration and attitudes towards immigrants.
Klobuchar said Trump’s rhetoric "has fueled more hate in this country."
At the El Paso shooting, 20 people were killed and 26 were injured in a Walmart. The shooter was arrested, and authorities are investigating whether an anti-immigrant manifesto that was posted online before the shooting was written by the shooter.
El Paso native O’Rourke offered a harsher condemnation, saying Sunday on CNN that Trump used language similar to that of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
"He is encouraging this," O’Rourke told host Jake Tapper. "He doesn’t just tolerate it, he encourages it, calling immigrants rapists and criminals and seeking to ban all people of one religion."
O’Rourke offered specific examples of Trump’s most blatant insults to minorities or immigrants, including Trump’s 2016 campaign talking point to ban Muslims from entering the US, his assertion that there were "very fine people" on both sides of the 2017 Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally, and his recent attacks on lawmakers of color.
"These are white men motivated by the kind of fear that this president traffics in," O’Rourke argued of a spate of domestic terrorism instances targeting minorities.
Booker said on CNN that Trump is "savagely fraying the bonds of our nation" by "using the same language of racism, bigotry and white supremacy."
He repeated the comment on MSNBC, saying that Trump must take responsibility for his rhetoric.
Buttigieg took a more broad aim during a Fox News interview, saying that "white nationalism is condoned at the highest level of our government."
Read more: Pete Buttigieg says white supremacists ‘feel validated’ by Trump, in response to El Paso shooting
"This is part of a climate," Buttigieg said, "where people who are in the grip of this hateful extremist ideology feel validated, and they feel validated from all the way at the top."
Trump tweeted to express his sorrow over the shootings, writing "God bless the people of El Paso Texas. God bless the people of Dayton, Ohio."
However, he didn’t make any further comment or appearance as he was at his New Jersey golf club for the weekend, according to pool reports.
NOW WATCH: ‘Shark Tank’ star Robert Herjavec explains what makes America great
See Also:
- Here are the winners and losers of night 2 of the 2020 Democratic presidential debates in Detroit
- 2020 Democrats excoriated Joe Biden for his record on immigration and for repeatedly invoking Obama’s name on the campaign trail
- The Democratic debates are this week. Here’s a guide on how to pronounce all the Democratic presidential candidates’ names.
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Ellen Cranley)