Striking a stark contrast to President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump said he will keep his National Rifle Association (NRA) convention speaking date, challenging his successor to deliver "real solutions" and "real leadership."
In a national address Tuesday night, just hours after an 18-year-old massacred 19 children and two fourth-grade teachers at a Texas border elementary school, Biden called for gun control to stop mass shooting events.
Trump is doubling down the other way.
"America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship," Trump wrote Wednesday from his Truth Social account. "That's why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America.
"In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation — we are all in this together!"
Houston Democrat Mayor Sylvester Turner says some people want the city to cancel the NRA meeting, but he says they cannot break the contract.
The greater question, he says, is why politicians still plan to speak there after the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz are among other Republicans scheduled to address a leadership forum sponsored by the NRA's lobbying arm.
"So, it's not about us canceling the convention," Turner said. "It's about elected officials at the highest level in our state going and speaking and endorsing those policies and that's wrong. And you can't pray and send condolences on one day and then be going and championing guns on the next. That's wrong."
Trump boldly standing for the NRA, the Second Amendment, and law-abiding Americans came just hours after he admitted it is "hard to think" about anything other than the victims of the senseless tragedy.
"So hard to think or report about anything else after watching the Texas school 'massacre' which took place yesterday," Trump wrote earlier Wednesday morning on his Truth Social account.
"Thank you to the great wisdom and bravery of our law enforcement professionals, and condolences to all who are suffering so gravely with the loss of those incredible souls so close to you.
"No words can express the sorrow and grief of this absolutely horrible event. It is a moment in time which will never be forgotten!"
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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