GUNS/MASS SHOOTINGS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump landed in El Paso on Wednesday [8-7-19] afternoon to try to console a city reeling from tragedy, but was greeted by protesters after a contentious day in which he clashed with rivals and critics even as he visited with grieving residents in Dayton, Ohio. The White House had signaled that Mr. Trump would play the traditional role of healer in chief on Wednesday, eschewing photo-ops in favor of private sessions with emergency and hospital workers and victims of the shootings that shocked both cities and the nation. But Mr. Trump’s proved unwilling to completely refrain from his usual combative style. On his way to El Paso from Dayton, he tweeted attacks on the Democratic mayor of Dayton and a Democratic senator who he said had not accurately described the closed-door sessions at a Dayton hospital earlier in the day. And earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Trump held a 20-minute session with reporters in which he unloaded many of his usual grievances, displaying little hesitation to engage in politics on a day of grief for many people around the country.”
–Michael D. Shear, “Trump Visits Dayton and El Paso,” The New York Times online, August 7, 2019