“These weapons do not belong in the streets of America.”
Jason Kander, a veteran of the Army National Guard and former Missouri Secretary of State, knows firsthand the damage weapons of war can do; he carried them on duty in Afghanistan. That’s why he has a clear message: “These weapons do not belong in the streets of America.”
70% of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, support banning assault weapons in the U.S. It’s Trump, Congressional Republicans, and the NRA who are opposed, and their opposition is costing lives.
Watch and share this video to help spread Jason Kander’s message: Assault weapons do not belong on the streets of America.
Trump’s G-7 chaos
“It was, all in all, a stunning display of incoherence—even by Mr. Trump’s standards.”
That’s how the Washington Post Editorial Board described Trump’s behavior at the G-7 summit over the weekend, and they’re not wrong. In between incomprehensible tweets—many of which were sent during bilateral meetings with other world leaders—here’s what Trump accomplished at the G-7:
- Pandering to Putin: As Russia is actively attacking our democracy, Trump defended Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-7, to which Russia is not invited on account of its invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Trump, who previously defended Russia’s annexation of Crimea, praised Putin and argued that Russia should be readmitted to the group—and didn’t take too kindly to other nations’ vehement disagreement.
- Insulting Obama: While lavishing praise on Putin, Trump also took aim at President Obama. Trump mentioned Obama 18 times, saying he was “outsmarted” by Putin and blaming Obama for “allowing” Russia to annex Crimea. As Eugene Robinson wrote yesterday, “Is it just my imagination, or is President Trump’s chronic and debilitating case of Obama envy getting worse?”
- Promoting his own struggling resort: Trump announced his plans to hold next year’s G-7 (or 8?) summit at his own struggling Doral resort. First off, that’s just incredibly corrupt. Secondly, Trump tried to claim that he won’t profit from the move and then gave a sales pitch for said resort, which reportedly has quite a bedbug problem.
- Blowing off a key climate change meeting: Climate denier Trump skipped a meeting with other leaders about combating the worsening climate crisis and the weeks-long fires that are raging in the Amazon rainforest. Trump, who has called climate change a Chinese hoax, defended the move by calling himself an environmentalist and claiming that windmills “aren’t working too well.” Never mind the fact that his own Department of Energy fact-checked him with three reports detailing the rise of wind power in the U.S.—and the fall of the coal industry that Trump promised to save.
It’s clear that Trump doesn’t take these summits seriously. As the Center for American Progress’ Michael H. Fuchs wrote today, “Coordination amongst the world’s democracies is vital to addressing any of the grave challenges we face in the 21st century…Maybe cancelling the summit one year will serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of the values that these democracies are supposed to stand for, and how necessary the G7 is when it lives up to its mission.”