Recently, President Barack Obama gave an emotional speech about gun control, speaking heavily about the incident that occurred at Sandy Hook, as well as Columbine and the streets of Chicago. During his speech, he began to weep for the children that has been killed during the Sandy Hook shooting. President Obama has recently been advocating strongly for new gun control measures to be passed to help limit these kinds of events, and the passion he showed during this proves that he really care about what he is preaching.
An interesting person who decided to comment on this issue was none other than Republican candidate Donald Trump. Trump says he disagrees with President Barack Obama on his gun control measures -- but that doesn't mean the President's heart is in the wrong place. Trump is quoted saying "I think he probably means well." It is certainly interesting to hear Trump say something nice about someone, as he is normally known to make humorous comments about others. He probably spared the current president because he gains nothing from insulting him and it was a truly moving speech. He even continued to say "I actually think he was sincere, I'll probably go down about 5 points in the polls by saying that, but I think he was sincere,"
While his views may be different from Obama's, seeing that all these laws are simply restricting the second amendment, he was able to put that aside for a second to praise Obama's honesty. However it was only for a second, as shortly after that he belittled the democrats and specifically Hillary Clinton's ideas of gun control.
Are you surprised that Trump would say he believed the President's tears are real or is that something he would do? Where do you stand on the issue of gun control, and has what Obama said changed your viewpoint at all?
Sources:http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/05/opinions/robbins-obama-cry/
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/264898-trump-obamas-tears-were-real
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/06/politics/donald-trump-obama-tears-sincere-executive-action/index.html
2 comments:
I think Trump's response to Obama's speech is a perfect example of how Trump is just trying to appeal to the media. Every chance he gets, he will roast another presidential candidate to gain an edge on them. However, he was very respectful to President Obama because roasting the current president would be much less acceptable. In my opinion, Obama brings up many valid points and it is good that he is trying to make actions on gun control. Although I am not sure how much this will actually change things, it is important to note that gun violence is an extreme issue in America today. The fact that it brought out President to tears should serve as a symbol to the American people to come together and fix this problem.
While I agree with Blogger Brian that Trump's respectful acknowledgement of Obama's sincerity was both out of character and refreshing, I have to disagree with his statement that "Trump is just trying to appeal to the media." In my opinion, Trump does the opposite of this; he freaks a lot of the public out. He may be appeal to the public to some degree with his radical comments, but the stunts he is constantly pulling turn off a lot of Americans: "If Trump achieves nothing else, he has already proved himself to be a one-man wrecking crew, demolishing the efforts of Republican leaders and consultants after the 2012 election to soften the harder edges of their party" (Edsall). As we have been discussing in class, Trump almost seems to be purposefully drawing people away from the Republican Party. As Mrs. Fox has said, it's almost as if Trump doesn't want to be President at all.
However, I digress. As for the matter at hand and your questions, Matt, I agree that it was a total surprise to hear Trump say anything remotely positive about President Obama. However, I thought it was one minor action that cannot be used to forgive thousands of microaggressions and overtly offensive statements he has made previously. It is important to remember how Trump's policies will not protect against gun violence, and how Obama has made strides toward stopping gun violence and mass shootings.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/02/opinion/campaign-stops/donald-trumps-appeal.html?_r=0
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