Stephan: The appearance of Trump, at the NRA convention on 27-29 May and described by the NRA as "a showcase of more than 14 acres of “the latest guns and gear,” with a 'powerhouse lineup of political speakers.'" All this just days after the massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde is a very deliberate considered political statement, and not just by Trump. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, are scheduled to present at Friday's convention. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, will also speak. It is because of this organization, these politicians, plus the weapon maker corporations, that are responsible, in my view, for the deaths in both cities. No one who has the least interest in wellbeing would make or sell something like the weapon used in both massacres, and continuing a conference only a few miles from where the Uvalde murders occurred is giving the middle finger to the rest of us. This is all about political power.
Will Americans recognize what is actually going on? I don't know. We will see in November.
Nothing laid bare the disjointed state of gun politics in America as starkly as the call and response in Texas this week. On Tuesday, it was a school shooting. Days later, Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans will appear at a gathering of the NRA.
The Memorial Day weekend event is being billed by the National Rifle Association as a showcase of more than 14 acres of “the latest guns and gear,” with a “powerhouse lineup of political speakers.” On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump confirmed on Wednesday he will appear.
That should never have been in doubt. Despite being weakened by financial difficulties and infighting, the National Rifle Association’s membership is a critical constituency to conservative politicians, and the event in Houston — less than 300 miles from the site of the mass shooting in Uvalde — a measure of its longstanding ties to the GOP.
The timing was inconsequential.
“Fuck them,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. “Fuck all of them. […]
