Maxine Waters Blames Trump for ‘Escalating Killings’ After Shootings

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said Sunday that she believes President Trump is to blame for the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

“Enough is enough. America, when are you going to demand action on guns?” she wrote on Twitter. “Another senseless mass killing by a young white nationalist. Trump, you cannot escape accepting blame for these escalating killings in our country that are motivated by your race baiting!”

Presidential candidate and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) echoed Waters’ statements Sunday during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, and said he believes the president is a white nationalist, Breitbart News reported.

“Yes. I do. And again from some of the record that I just recited to you, the things that he has said both as a candidate and then as the president of the United States, this cannot be open for debate,” O’Rourke said.

He continued:

And you as well as I have a responsibility to call that out, to make sure that the American people understand what is being done in their name by the person who holds the highest position of public trust in this land. He did not even pretend to respect our differences or to understand that we are all created equal.

O’Rourke also accused the president of tolerating racism and hatred, and blamed Fox News and the internet for encouraging it.

“It doesn’t just offend us. It encourages the violence we are seeing, including in my home town of El Paso this weekend,” he commented.

However, President Trump condemned the El Paso shooter’s alleged actions on Twitter Saturday, calling them “an act of cowardice.”

“Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people,” he wrote. “Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas.”