President Trump Demands Capital Punishment for Mass Murders

Donald Trump told the nation that he will direct the Department of Justice to introduce legislation mandating capital punishment for mass murderers, while addressed the nation from the White House, on Monday.

This was the President’s first public address concerning this week’s shootings in Dayton OH, El Paso, TX and Gilroy m, CA.

After the live announcement, Trump posted a video making a similar statement. 

In another move that stunned pundits, the president appears to now support stronger background checks. Like many other Trump proposals, this one came by tweet.

President Trump has been called soft on hate crime since his comments in August of 2017, which followed a “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA. The President told the nation there were “good people on both sides” of clashes between far-right protesters and a large group of counter-protesters. During these clashes, a white-supremacist took a young woman’s life when he deliberately plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. 

Conservatives were unanimous in strongly condemning the attacks, on Monday, but not all endorsed capital punishment explicitly. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (TX-2) was quick to speak on the attacks and call for justice. He has also joined Trump in calling for more gun control.

Fellow Texan and veteran George P. Bush – the son of Jeb Bush – seemed to imply he wanted the death penalty for the shooter. In the post, he compares the El Paso attacker to the terrorists he fought (and killed) in Afghanistan.

The shooter, whose name and face we won’t publish, wrote a short (and poorly written) manifesto. He lists his motivation as being the influx of migrants into Texas from Central America.