and conservatives on that issue. i think this is just two different philosophies in approaching this issue going forward. what do you make, julia of top democrats offer to the president for a photo op? if they can pass bipartisan background check legislation. you know, i got to say, i actually quite clever. we know that president trump loves a good photo op, and he loves being able to take credit for any talks of, you know, talks with democrats or any sort of bipartisan movement, even if it s democrats reaching out first. so i think nancy pelosi and chuck schumer very much know what president trump likes in that regard, and they know that a photo op in the rose garden is something he will very much capitalize on. who are you hearing, at least from your sources and others, who are you hearing to be in the driver s seat on the topic of gun reform? mitch mcconnell says it s the white house. the white house on the other hand saying they want to find out what mitch mcconnell can
actually get passed, and yet somewhere in all of this we re waiting to see what actually gets written into law. yeah, i think republicans are very much still in the hands of the gun control lobby or the gun lobbies such as the national rifle association, and mitch mcconnell probably isn t sure which direction to go in at this point because he knows that he s almost at the whim of president trump in all of this, so he s kind of waiting for him to take the lead on all of this. we know that gun control groups such as every town for gun safety, moms demand action are very much taking aim or you know, looking at senators up for re-election that work under mitch mcconnell such as cory gardner in colorado, susan collins in maine, thom tillis in north carolina. they are going to make their re-election bids much harder with a number of ad campaigns or very much organizing in that state. so i think mitch mcconnell is very cognizant of that. he s almost between a rock and
of assault weapons. this is a golden moment to finally do something. we ve been arguing about this for as long as i ve been alive. when even this president and even mitch mcconnell are at least pretending to be open to reforms, we know that we have a moment on our hands. o rourke reacted to buttigieg s comments tweeting this, leaving millions of weapons of war on the streets because trump and mcconnell are at least pretending to be open to reforms, that calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. let s have the courage to say what we believe. joining us once again political reporter for the hill julia manchester. let s talk about that exchange between beto o rourke and pete buttigieg. how did beto o rourke s debate performance impact top democrats continued talks with president trump on gun reform. is it a divided front, especially between those that are running for office in 2020 only playing into republican hands as pete buttigieg
suggested? it s very much possible. i think beto o rourke has very much took advantage of the fact that ever since the el paso shooting he has very much been at the forefront of this issue, and he s very much made it almost a niche issue for him calling for gun control as well as actions taken against white supremacy and bigotry. we know that beto o rourke on that debate stage really much made that an issue almost of his own and capitalized on it, and he got a lot of praise for that performance. before he wasn t being as noticed for his debate performance. this was a way for him to very much stand out. however, pete buttigieg s calculus in all of this is more of a compromising one. let s sit down and work this out. i think pete buttigieg understands this isn t going to be as easy as taking away people s ar-15s. after o rourke made that comment at the debates, we saw quite a bit of outcry from republicans