Donald Trump said he’s going to do ‘something’ about hate groups
Donald Trump said he’s going to do ‘something’ about hate groups. (Ralph Freso/Getty)
Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House today (August 7) that he was “concerned about the rise of any group of hate,” and that he would do “something” about it.
The US president was about to leave for Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, to visit first responders and victims of the two mass shootings that took place this weekend.
Trump said: “I am concerned about the rise of any group of hate, I don’t like it. Whether it’s white supremacy, whether it’s any other kind of supremacy, whether it’s Antifa, whether it’s any group of hate. I am very concerned about it and I’ll do something about it.”
"I am concerned about the rise of any group of hate." pic.twitter.com/fkESxbW6xb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 7, 2019
Donald Trump said there was “no political appetite” for banning assault rifles
The Southern Poverty Law Centre does not list Antifa, anti-fascist militant groups, as a hate group. Its website states: “This does not mean that extremism and violence on the far left are not concerns.
“But groups that engage in anti-fascist violence such as Antifa, for example, differ from hate groups in that they are not typically organised around bigotry against people based on [race, religion or being LGBT+].”
Trump also said, in the same interview, that there was “no political appetite” for banning assault rifles.
On Monday (August 5), Trump wrote on Twitter: “We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain… Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”
