Trump ‘blames mental illness’ for mass shootings as Democrats say president’s racism is responsible

Beto O’Rourke and Bernie Sanders lead condemnation after 20 killed at Walmart store in Texas by suspected white supremacist

Donald Trump has suggested that two gunmen who carried out mass shootings over the weekend were “really very seriously mentally ill”.

The president spent the weekend golfing at his Bedminster course.

He emerged to speak to reporters on Sunday afternoon.

“Hate has no place in our country,” he said. “We’re going to take care of [the problem,]”

The president then claimed the gunmen were “really very seriously mentally ill”.

He did not mention the El Paso shooter’s alleged links to white supremacist ideology.

“I’m talking to a lot of people, and a lot of things are in the works,” he said, in response to a question about gun control.

“We have done much more than most administrations.

“We have done, actually, a lot, but more has to be done.”

But the president is under pressure from Washington and Democrats, after the US was left reeling after the El Paso and Dayton shootings.

Democratic presidential candidates condemned the president’s racism and the failure to take action on gun control following the mass shooting by a suspected white supremacist in El Paso.

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, who represented the district where the attack took place, said the US president bore some responsibility for the attack which left at least 20 people dead.

“He is a racist, and he stokes racism in this country,” he added. “It does not just offend our sensibilities; it fundamentally changes the character of this country and it leads to violence.”

Cory Booker, the first African American US senator from New Jersey, highlighted Mr Trump’s use of words like “infestation” and “invasion” as he accused the president of “giving licence to this kind of violence”.

“One of the lessons in my faith is that you reap what you sow,” the senator for New Jersey said. “He’s responsible.”

Bernie Sanders also targeted the president as he urged the US to “come together to reject this dangerous and growing culture of bigotry espoused by Trump and his allies”.

“Instead of wasting money putting children in cages, we must seriously address the scourge of violent bigotry and domestic terrorism,” the Vermont senator added.

“We must treat this violent racism like the security threat that it is.”

Mr Sanders also joined renewed calls for gun safety legislation following the shooting at a Walmart store on Saturday.

“After every tragedy the Senate, intimidated by the NRA’s power, does nothing,” he said. “This must change. We need a president and congress that listen to Americans, not the ideology of a right-wing extremist organisation. We must pass common sense gun safety legislation.”

California senator Kamala Harris urged the president to “have the courage to do something” and said congress should pass “reasonable gun safety laws”, adding: “We shouldn’t have to live in fear of mass shootings.”

Former vice president Joe Biden tweeted: “How many lives must be cut short? How many communities must be torn apart? It’s past time we take action and end our gun violence epidemic.”

“Time to ban and buy back every assault weapon in America,” said California congressman Eric Swalwell.

Targeting the Republican leadership in Washington DC, Elizabeth Warren said: “Americans shouldn’t have to live in fear that if they go to Walmart, or a festival, or school, or just walk down the street that they won’t make it home alive. This has to stop.”

As it emerged that the suspect – a white man in his 20s named as Patrick Crusius – had posted a racist manifesto online before launching the attack, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said the US was “under attack from white nationalist terrorism”.

He said the attacker was “abetted by weak gun laws”, and added: “If we are serious about national security, we must summon the courage to name and defeat this evil.”

“Our president isn’t just failing to confront and disarm these domestic terrorists, he is amplifying and condoning their hate,” he said.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of four female politicians attacked by Mr Trump in recent racist tweets, said right-wing extremists were being radicalised on social media.

“White supremacy has quickly turned into a domestic terror crisis,” she said. “They rely on you thinking it’s not a big deal. It is a big deal. White supremacy now makes up the majority of domestic terrorism in the United States. They radicalise online.”

The congresswoman added: “We can no longer bear to see gun violence and mass shootings continue as a norm in America. How many deaths to gun violence could have been preventable with responsible gun safety laws? How many children would still have their mothers? Enough. It’s way past time we act.”

“Video games aren’t causing mass shootings, white supremacy is,” she said.

“Sadly the GOP refuse to acknowledge that, bc their strategy relies on rallying a white supremacist base. That‘s why the President hosts stadiums of people chanting ‘send her back”& targets Congress-members of color.’”

Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who survived an attempted assassination by a gunman in Tucson, Arizona, urged the president and Republican leader Mitch McConnell to call the Senate back from recess “immediately”.

“I have no more words. I only have anger,” she tweeted. “We cannot afford to wait another day for lawmakers to address this horrific national public safety threat.”

Mr Trump has faced widespread criticism during his presidency for calling immigrants “animals”, drug dealers and rapists, and describing their arrival at the US-Mexico border as an “invasion”.

A poll found more than half of American voters thought Mr Trump was racist, following his attacks on Baltimore as a “rodent-infested mess” and his tweet telling four Democrat congresswomen – including Somali-born Ilhan Omar – to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came”.

The US president earlier condemned the shooting as a “hateful act” and said it “was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice ... there are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.”