Trump news: President vows to release 'racism list' after being labelled 'white supremacist' by Democratic candidates
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Donald Trump has returned to Washington, DC, after an “amazing day” visiting the grieving communities of El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on a mission to heal divisions in the aftermath of the two devastating mass shootings that left 31 people dead over the weekend.
The president was met with boos from protesters upset by his racist rhetoric and undermined his own efforts to bring consolation by angrily tweeting about the “LameStream Media” and his political rivals and enemies in the press from Air Force One, even threatening to release a “racism list” to attack Democrats.
In Iowa, Democratic 2020 challenger Joe Biden accused him of “fanning the flames of white supremacy” - a sentiment later echoed by Elizabeth Warren - prompting Mr Trump to respond on Twitter: “Sooo Boring”.
On Wednesday alone, three White House hopefuls — Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar — offered sweeping proposals that touch on everything from farm subsidies to rural broadband and health care.
The trio of senators are among the parade of candidates who will fan out across Iowa this weekend to participate in the famed state fair and other events.
Trump protests: President visits Texas and Ohio after mass shootings
Show all 31The focus on rural Iowa is a mainstay of presidential politics, sending candidates on a sometimes-awkward pilgrimage to the far corners of the state that holds the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
But Democrats say the chase for the heartland is especially urgent this year as the party tries to win back some voters who supported Mr Trump in 2016.
A strong showing in Iowa, they say, could prove a candidate’s ability to make inroads in other rural communities across the country.
The challenge for Democrats is to rebuild the multiracial coalition across urban and rural areas that twice sent Barack Obama to the White House. His victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses helped build momentum to claim the party’s presidential nomination. He later carried Iowa in the 2008 and 2012 general elections while also winning states with urban centers, such as Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In 2016, Mr Trump ate into that path , carrying Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Some Democratic candidates are working to reverse those gains by offering ambitious changes to rural voters. Ms Warren’s proposal on Wednesday would reshape the current farm subsidy system into a program that would break up big agribusinesses and guarantee farmers certain prices, which she said would raise farmers’ incomes and save taxpayer money.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
Good morning to another day of news. We’ll guide you through the latest developments out of Washington today from our New York City offices, focusing on the fallout from Donald Trump’s trips to communities in mourning after the latest mass shootings to grip the nation.
The president’s schedule is mostly silent today, with a noon intelligence briefing followed by lunch with the secretary of state at 12:45 pm EST.
No press events on his schedule for today — we’ll keep you posted on any changes (or tweets).
Donald Trump used his flight time between visiting the cities of two mass shootings to attack his critics and boast on Twitter about how victims had shown him “love, respect & enthusiasm”.
The US president visited El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday – cities reeling from two massacres which left 31 people dead and dozens more wounded last weekend.
Mr Trump was greeted by protesters as he visited the hospitals where victims were treated, who accused him of stoking tensions with his anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric.
Kamala Harris has slammed Donald Trump over the largest ICE raids carried out in a decade, saying "Trump wants to play politics" with immigrant lives -
Woody Harrelson has recounted a “brutal” dinner with Donald Trump, describing it as “so bad” he had to “go outside and burn one”.
The dinner in question took place in 2002, some 15 years before Trump became president, and his wife Melania and former pro wrestler and ex-governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura, a friend of Harrelson’s, were also present.
“So Jesse Ventura is a buddy of mine,” explained the Zombieland 2 actor, “and he called me up – and this is in, oh, 2002 – and said, ‘Donald Trump is going to try to convince me to be his running mate for the Democratic ticket in 2004. Will you be my date?’ I said, ‘Yeah, man.’”
Here's video of Donald Trump inside the hospital he visited in El Paso, Texas yesterday. Press were not allowed access to the president's visit. It appears he was attacking Beto O'Rourke while speaking with the hospital's staff -
Donald Trump is once again attacking the Federal Reserve while saying he in fact is not thrilled "with our very strong dollar" -
An explosive new report says a State Department official was the head of a Washington chapter for a white nationalist group and published extremist propaganda online.
Matthew Gebert, who serves as a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources, actively promoted white nationalist sentiments and was a prominent member of white nationalism circles, the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s Hatewatch reported Wednesday.
Hatewatch said Mr Gebert often discussed the need for a country exclusively built for white people that featured a “nuclear deterrent.” His wife, Anna Vuckovic, was also a blogger who published white nationalist views, according to the report.
Story to come...
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Donald Trump’s efforts to provide comfort and support to the victims of two mass shootings has been engulfed by controversy as protesters claimed his rhetoric was responsible for spreading bigotry. There was also unease at the president’s angry tweets posted while flying between Dayton and El Paso on Air Force One.
Five days after a gunman entered a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, and opened fire killing 22 people, only for the violence to be echoed within hours by the killing of nine people in Dayton, Ohio, Mr Trump visited both cities on Wednesday in what for US presidents has long been the role of consoler-in-chief.
In El Paso, with many angry about racist language they believe has emboldened people such as the young white man who allegedly drove 10 hours to deliberately target a store with a large number of Hispanics, critics held a protest to denounce his action. Protesters booed Mr Trump as he and the first lady were driven to meet survivors and first responders at a hospital, outnumbering the president’s supporters who cheered his motorcade.
Elizabeth Warren has said she believes Donald Trump is a white supremacist, hours after her fellow Democratic primary candidate Beto O’Rourke said the same.
“He has given aid and comfort to white supremacists,” Ms Warren said, while campaigning in Iowa on Wednesday evening.
“He’s done the wink and a nod. He has talked about white supremacists as fine people.
“He’s done everything he can to stir up racial conflict and hatred in this country,” she said, according to The New York Times.
Joe Biden's attacks against Donald Trump during his speech yesterday in Iowa are still drawing headlines today - and the ire of the president himself -
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