President Trump has come out in opposition to some gun control measures, mainly additional background checks, that he had previously expressed some interest in and Tuesday's Deadline on MSNBC was not at all happy about it. Expressing his contempt for Trump, guest host John Heilemann led off the segment declaring that the only things certain in life are, "There's death and taxes and capitulation on gun control."
Later in the segment, Heilemann turned to New York Times White House correspondent Michael Crowley, "I ask you given this display of craven backsliding, hypocrisy, self-contradictions, and mealy-mouthed talk coming out of President Trump over the course of the last week in this topic, are we exactly where the most cynical people assumed we would be as soon as El Paso and Dayton happened?"
Crowley agreed and as per usual media reporting, the National Rifle Association was to blame:
[I]t’s looking like they're being born out and you know what strikes me here is the way in which Mr. Trump, in the last few days, has almost verbatim, repeated some of the key NRA talking points. The one in particular that struck me, he repeated it, I think we heard it from him Sunday and then again yesterday almost word-for-word is the idea, I think the line is 'the gun doesn't pull the trigger, the person pulls the trigger.' That's not something I had ever heard him say before, at least not in the last many months.
The idea that it is the shooter, not the inanimate object that is responsible for the death of innocents is an argument that has been along well before Sunday, but Crowley was not finished, "It had the feel that somebody had planted this in his head." Heilemann retorted, "Yeah, a person whose name rhymes with LaPierre or actually is LaPierre," which brought laughter from the panel.
The same media that brings on various gun control advocates and gives them free air time to accuse the NRA, Trump, Mitch McConnell, and others of not caring about dead children and then uncritically repeats their superficial slogans and policy prescriptions, is not in the best position to accuse others of being an NRA puppet.
Here is a transcript for the August 20 show:
MSNBC
Deadline: White House
4:40 PM ET
JOHN HEILEMANN: Joining us now New York Times White House correspondent Michael Crowley. Michael, I ask you given this display of craven backsliding, hypocrisy, self-contradictions and mealy-mouthed talk coming out of President Trump over the course of the last week in this topic, are we exactly where the most cynical people assumed we would be as soon as El Paso and Dayton happened, which is to say nothing gonna’ happen, Trump not gonna’ help, nothing going to change
MICHAEL CROWLEY: Well, it sure looks that way, John and you know this is a familiar pattern and I think that people were predicting it and it’s looking like they're being born out and you know what strikes me here is the way in which Mr. Trump, in the last few days, has almost verbatim, repeated some of the key NRA talking points. The one in particular that struck me, he repeated it, I think we heard it from him Sunday and then again yesterday almost word-for-word is the idea, I think the line is “the gun doesn't pull the trigger, the person pulls the trigger.” That's not something I had ever heard him say before, at least not in the last many months, wasn't something he was saying, you know, a week or two ago right after the shootings and we heard it a couple days in rapid succession. It had the feel that somebody had planted this in his head and this a president generally not scripted and sort of says whatever is at the top of his mind and there are a couple of other examples of this where we have very recently in the past few days, hear him stick to talking points on this subject, so I think, yes, he's shifted course. It sure feels like he talked to somebody who I guess you could say clarified his thinking on the subject.HEILEMANN: Yeah, a person whose name rhymes with LaPierre or actually is LaPierre.
