Day 931: Trump, GOP get marching orders from NRA
With tens of millions of dollars in political contributions, the National Rifle Association has effectively bought influence and the ability to dictate terms to many in Congress, predominately Republicans, in addition to Donald Trump.
In the aftermath of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, the NRA immediately called in their favors, literally, and began issuing warnings to Trump and the GOP.
NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre spoke with Trump on Tuesday after the president expressed support for a background check bill and told him it would not be popular among Trump’s supporters, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss internal talks. LaPierre also argued against the bill’s merits, the officials said.
The two men had several more calls on Wednesday, White House officials said.
Despite support for enhanced background checks polling near 90%, Trump appeared to give credence to LaPierre’s concerns and repeated some of them to lawmakers.
Trump has been not-so-subtly been reminded of the NRA’s influence in the past. He has spoken about pushing for change only to have those words vaporize nearly instantaneously.
He has gone down this road before, expressing support for some measures before fear of backlash from the NRA kept him from doing anything.
Trump’s previous declarations of support for tougher gun controls, including after the deadly Parkland, Fla., shooting in February 2018, have foundered without a sustained push from the president and support from the NRA or Republican lawmakers. Even Trump’s advisers question how far he will go on any effort.
After the Parkland shooting, Trump expressed support for background checks for gun purchases and greater police power to seize guns from mentally disturbed people. But he faced significant resistance from the NRA and Republicans and abandoned the ideas.
On Air Force One after the October 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead, Trump said he wanted to enact a law to keep such shootings from happening again and would question others for ideas but did not have specific proposals.
This week is yet another stark reminder of what millions of dollars in political contributions get you. The NRA’s cash allows them the ability to push politicians off common sense reforms so that those in the firearm industry can turn profits by any means necessary.
931 days in, 531 to go
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