Today's joke of a "bipartisan" meeting with Congresscritters on guns was nothing more than a photo opportunity intended to make Donald Trump look "presidential." As usual, it failed in form and substance.
One of the more remarkable moments was when Trump went after Senator Pat Toomey for not putting age limits in the Manchin-Toomey bill that failed after the Sandy Hook tragedy.
When Toomey admitted that they hadn't put age limits in, Trump told him, "You know why? Because you're afraid of the NRA."
Yes, the man who took tens of millions from the NRA to get elected wants to pretend he's not owned by them, so he goes after a Senator in his own party because why not. He did make sure to say that he loved the NRA, that they loved their country (no, no, they don't). His sudden embrace of age limits for purchase is precious, given that after Wayne LaPierre told Trump to stand down on them, he stopped talking about them.
Later in the meeting (not in this video), Chris Murphy tried to get Trump to understand what a heavy lift any gun bill is, as CNN reported.
"I think you underestimate the power of the gun lobby," Murphy warned.
Once again, Trump went on the offense, huffing that "they have great power over you people, they have less power over me."
He went on to once again praise the NRA and claim they're fine with some sensible gun reforms (they're not) and put it on the lawmakers in the room, telling them: "Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can't be petrified. You can't be petrified."
We know who is petrified. It's not these senators, and this whole meeting was nothing more than a staged photo op to pretend for the public that he's some grand dealmaker.
Remember the DACA meeting? This was the same thing. Just a show that cable networks lapped up like kitties to a saucer of milk.
They can monitor it and bring us anything they think we need to see. There is absolutely no need to stream this live. None. They didn't stream Obama live because they could monitor it and bring clips. Either the editors and producers on the networks should give up their titles or they should start...editing. Enough of the unlimited free air.
