President Donald Trump scrambled the gun control debate by scolding members of his own party for kowtowing to the National Rifle Association and not doing something “comprehensive” about guns.
“Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can’t be petrified,” Trump told the bipartisan group of senators and representatives Wednesday. “They have great power over you people. They have less power over me.”
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Trump then chided Republicans in the House of Representatives for insisting on tying any background checks legislation with expanding the ability to carry concealed weapons, the NRA’s top legislative priority.
“They have great power over you people. They have less power over me.”
“You’ll never get this passed if you add concealed carry to this. You’ll never get it passed,” Trump told Rep. Steve Scalise, who is still recovering from gun wounds he suffered last summer in a politically motivated shooting. Scalise has been an outspoken advocate for the NRA’s priorities after his hospitalization, but Trump shut him down repeatedly.
Republicans in the rooms seemed stunned and continually attempted to steer the president back to their priorities to little avail. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who was seated next to the president and has been a long-time advocate of gun control, looked gleeful.
The NRA spent over $30 million in 2016 to support Trump’s presidential campaign, the most the group has ever spent for a candidate. In return, Trump promised the group last spring that “I will never let you down.”
But on Wednesday, the Republican president appeared eager to assert his independence from the NRA, sounding inclined to pass the most comprehensive gun control in over two decades.
He said members of Congress should start with the Manchin-Toomey background check legislation that Obama failed to pass in 2013 in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre. “Be very strong on background checks; don’t be shy,” he said.
After more than a year of a harshly partisan presidency that has left Democrats exhausted from outrage, Trump appeared moderate on the issue of guns in the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead and about a dozen wounded.
But it’s unclear if Trump’s surprising rhetoric will be backed up with sustained pressure to get Republicans to go along. In a similar roundtable discussion last month on immigration, Trump also appeared to moderate his harsh immigration rhetoric, only to make a list of starkly partisan demands days later, which led to a short government shutdown.
Legislative action on guns, even proposals supported by the NRA that center on better enforcement of the laws on the books, has been stalled in Congress with partisan bickering.
Democrats don’t want to let Republicans claim they’re doing something on guns if it only means NRA-supported proposals. Conservative Republicans don’t want to take any action that could restrict gun ownership and say they shouldn’t bring up such proposals when the party controls both chambers of Congress. And any Republican willing to maybe support some gun control won’t do it unless Trump explicitly supports it and gives them political cover from the conservative base (which Trump has now suggested he will do).
But with 60 votes required to pass anything in the Senate, and Republicans having 51, any measure will need support from both sides.
And so, nothing has happened. So far. But now congressional leaders are facing sustained protest from students, particularly those who survived the attack in Parkland and have become effective advocates for change.
“I’m not into popularity. I’m into getting something done,” Trump said.
We’re about to find out.
Cover image: President Donald Trump speaks during the 2018 White House business session with state governors in the State dining Room of the White House on February 26, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
