Expanded background checks as well as socalled red nag laws flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. But the shootings have also renewed attacks over President Trumps rhetoric with 2020 hopeful and former Vice President joe biden accusing him of stoking hate with his words. Listen. This president has fanned the flames of White Supremacy in the this nation. Hes poured fuel on the fire. We have a president with a fox fox toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced the political strategy of hate, racism and division. David lets bring in wall street journal columnist and deputy Editorial Page EditorDan Henninger and columnists kim strassel and bill mcgurn. Dan, americans, folks in real america outside the beltway, what do you think their reaction is to politicians trying to score political points on the basis of these shootings . Well, i dont think theyre shocked, david, but i certainly think theyre depressed by it. It was extraordinary even to me, im in the business, im paid to watch these things, think about them, that after you had these or horrific shootings in el paso and dayton, the president gives a speech and instantly the political process turns into antitrump sentiment. Not merely by joe biden and cory booker, who are standing there literally making political appeals describing a causal relationship between the president s words and these shooters david and sending out fundraising letters. In the media, the press as well directing all of its focus onto donald trump when you have, clearly, deep social and cultural problems involved in these shootings. This has happened before x. Then the idea becomes that merely if we do gun legislation, registration laws, weve been here so many times, david. And and i do think the American People are getting disspiritted by the low quality of our politics. David and, kim, lets drill down on the whole issue of gun control laws, because theres gun control and the president s talking about more background checks, but then theres also gun confiscation. And we were hearing more about this from democrats, marley those running particularly those running for president. What are we going to end up with . Well, look, its been a revealing moment, david, in that i think theres long been a fear among firearms owners in the country that what democrats were really angling for was to take away guns, and now we have many in the democratic field saying that is, indeed, their goal. I mean, you had beto orourke come out and say, yes, he was open to the idea of mandatory con fission case confiscation, you have several candidates saying they want to ban, quote, assault weapons even though those guns are no different from any other semiautomatic that would remain on the streets. You have cory booker saying he wants mandatory federal licensing if youre to own a gun purchase a gun, rather, which would involve fingerprinting and interviews. This is scary stuff for a lot of Second Amendment believers and beyond the pale. Thats a political question. In terms of the reality of what we get, you know, were talking about background checks now. That seems to be something people are settling on, although the reality is that even these expansive background checks wouldnt have stopped the latest shootings. David yeah. Bill, Steve Scalise, congressman Steve Scalise, he has a lot of credibility on the issue of gun violence after having been the victim of a horrible shooting himself. He spoke on the issues of exactly e what kim was talking about. Let me just play that sound bite, get your reaction. In the end, all you end up doing is seeing more and more attempts to take away rights from lawabiding citizens. And keep in mind when nancy pelosi drew up the bill that she keeps talking about, that bill doesnt address any of these shootings. They want to take away peoples guns. David so when Steve Scalise, the victim of gun violence himself, talks about his fear of the government taking away guns, that has a lot of credibility. Yeah. I think kims right, and i think Steve Scalise is right. Look, theres a lot of people who just dont trust the American People. What we increasingly see david dont trust american politicians. Well, no, they dont trust the American People, and one of the things they dont trust them with is guns. We behave as though the gunowning part of the population is this tiny fraction. I think its about 43 . For Many Americans this is a normal part of everyday life, and they dont like the idea that if you own a gun or something, youre considered a white supremacist or a menace to your neighbors. I think thats not true. Also i think more broadly speaking dan was saying people are cynical. Is the idea really that the federal government is going to solve this problem . David right. Isnt it just the opposite . When we can talk about mental health, weve emasculated all local authorities whether its the family, the school, the local police department. The people who would know a troubled young man better than anyone david great point. And so what do we do . We dump it on the cops or the federal government. David and, dan, some things dont have Political Solutions or economic solutions. Some things are social. If you look at social media, what that has done. We had a poll out a couple weeks ago, 30 of all millennials dont have any friends. They think they have thousands of friends on facebook, but its an illusion. For the real psychotic among that group who live in the internet and then come out and try to play that out in reality, you have disasters like this. Yes. And in the wake of the dayton shooting, there was a lot of reporting done about how when he was in high school, his classmates knew that he had problems, that he had these violent compulsions. It was made public. And recall, david, we went through the same thing with the parkland shooter. There was a lot known about him by the authorities, and they didnt act. For whatever reason, whether it is incompetence at the local level, whether its theyre overwhelming by other activities and duty, the fact of the matter is simply throwing these laws out onto the table in no way guarantees that people are going to affirmatively act when they see an individual in deep trouble. David and, kim, very quickly, these red flag laws, socalled, who defines what a red flag is . There are some people that are concerned that maybe some politicians will think wearing a maga flag hat or carrying a maga flag will qualify as a red flag. Right. And thats why the number one duty of the federal government is going to look at this and potentially give grants to the states, it has to be to encourage these states that are approaching this to do laws with actual due process and penalties for anyone who bring false claims. David all right, kim, dan, bill, thank you very much. Well, more than a year ahead of the 2020 elections, gop house retirements are beginning to mount with four in texas alone. So can democrats turn the Lone Star State blue . Were going to be asking a man were going to be asking a man who kwhen i walked through a snowstorm for a cigarette, thats when i knew i had to quit. For real this time. Thats why im using nicorette. Only nicorette gum has patented dualcoated technology for great taste. Plus intense craving relief. Every great why, needs a great how. Now you can, with shipsticks. Com no more lugging your clubs through the airport or risk having your clubs lost or damaged by the airlines. 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Every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. Take your business beyond. David so were still more than a year away from the 2020 elections, but gop retirements are beginning to mount with 11 republicans already announcing that they will not run for reelection to the house. There are four retirements in texas alone where democrats are vowing to go on offense. So do they have a chance to turn the Lone Star State blue in 2020 . Lets ask fox news contributor, wall street journal columnist karl rove. He served as a Senior Adviser to president george w. Bush. Good to see you, karl. So real clear politics had an article today, yes, the gop should worry about texas. Are you worried about texas . Yes, i am. Im not as worried about 2020, but im worried about complacency that could lead texas to fall out of the republican column unless republicans get reactivated in texas. Look, heres the article in the real clear politics is pretty darn good. If you take a look at it, john mccain carried the state in 2008. Now, remember, thats the height of the financial crisis, and he carries the state by nearly 12 points. David wow. In 2012 mitt romney gets defeated nationwide by barack obama in the reelection but carries the state by nearly 6. And in 2016 donald trump carries the state by nine points. The republicans had better be careful because if we do better in 2008 than we did in 206, it says 2016, it says something about the state. The good news is republicans have gotten motivated. They lost nine seats in the statehouse, two seats in the state senate, two seats in the congress in 2018, and as a result, youre seeing them finally wake up, realize theyve become complacent over the last decade, and as a result, there are gigantic e efforts underway aimed at Voter Registration and reinvigoration of the republican volunteer base. The good news is next year our state ticket will be bed will be led by senator john cornyn whos enormously respected. David one change that article mentions is some things may be beyond the control of the party faithful. Texas turning from a rural state into one that is more citified than it used to be, certainly, and growing in that direction. Cities have a tendency e to trend democratic. Theres nothing you can really do about that is there . Yeah, exactly. Well, there are. But youre right, right now we have two things going on in texas, the cities are becoming more democrat, and rural and small town texas becoming more republican. The question is are the republicans going to go out there and register those people. Were a dynamic, growing state, were going to double in population in the next 20 years, and are republicans going to engage in the grassroots activity of registering republicans . There are other a Million People in texas today who are either known to be republicans at their previous address or whom a profile of those people shows theyre absolutely certain to be republicans, and yet theyre not registered to vote. If you look at the history of texas, republicans were still hunting us with dogs in 1978 when we elected our first republican governor in over 100 years. And the way that the republicans won that election and what they did every two years thereafter for the next 20someodd years was run massive, volunteer, get out the vote persuasion earths. Once we got in the majority david i thought you still hunted with dogs. Thats news to me. I do. [laughter] im not hunted with dogs like when i moved to texas. I was the only republican political consultant in austin, texas, back then. It was awful lonely. David ill bet it was. Lets bring it out to nation as a whole because im curious about the States Donald trump turned red like pennsylvania, ohio, michigan. Is there any chance that those are in danger of going blue . Well, absolutely. Pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin, which he won by less than 1 . I think thats different than ohio. Ohio seems to me to be trending more red, not more purple. But, absolutely, hes got to worry about wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania. Hes also got to worry about north carolina. And my sense is from talking to people inside the trump cam ap pain theyre concerned about campaign, or theyre concerned about north carolina. Theyre reasonably comfortable, but they know they cant take anything for granted in texas excuse me, in florida. Theyre worried about iowa which was a state that he flipped from 2012 to 2016. And they, but theyre, you know, theyre looking for opportunities, new mexico, colorado, minnesota, new hampshire, nevada where they came in close. David right. But, yeah, theyve got every reason politics never stays static, and so theyre smart to be concerned. David karl, i dont want to let this segment go by without talking about the shootings, more of the to the shootings that weve seen this week. Its a week of mourning, and weve had some serious mourning going on, consoling. Thats been good. But the unrest tented attacks unprecedented attacks on the president of the United States by the opposing party suggesting that he is directly responsible for these attacks, your thoughts on that. Well, look, i was taken aback. I mean, it seems the more struggling the democratic president ial candidate was, the more outrageous their words. But you used the word responsible. We heard that from cory booker. We heard that from pete buttigieg, from Robert Francis orourke, we heard it from Bernie Sanders and elizabeth warren. All using the word to basically accuse the president of being an accomplice in the murders in el paso and in dayton, ohio. And, you know, that is really over the top. I think the democrats have made a mistake because thats not going to get the swing voters who are up for grabs in this election to their side. But more important than that, its poisoning our politics even more than it is. Our politics is brokennen, and it does absolutely no good for people to go out there and say as Robert Francis orourke and others have done that the president a white supremacist or a racial bigot, that hes a racist and that he has a direct responsibility for the people who pulled the triggers in those two towns. Would we say the same of Bernie Sanders . After all, a supporter of his was the guy who shot, tried to kill the Republican House and Senate Members at their baseball practice a couple years ago. David well, of course, the ohio shooter was a leftist d. Right, selfdescribed leftist, absolutely. David karl, thank you very much for joining us. Have a great weekend. When we come back, targeting trump donors. 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Flights, hotels, cars, activities, Vacation Rentals. Expedia. Everything you need to go. It may be naive, but i just was angered by the fact that anybody i mean, being out as a contributor wasnt the problem, but tying me to that horrific tragedy in el paso was galling. It just made me sick to my some stomach. David that was trump donor David Hanrahan speaking out on fox after he was named by congressman Joaquin Castro on twitter. The brother of Julian Castro tweeting out a list of 44 trump donors saying their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate. We are back with Dan Henninger, kim strassel, bill mcgurn and allysia finley. Good to see you all. Bill, the public shaming of decent americans, there wasnt a person on that list according to the people i talked to who were on that list, who was a white supremacist, who was a racist, who isnt anything other than a decent american. Its happened before in america where weve had these the mccarthy era, and it reached a breaking point, and mccarthy eventually was shamed himself. Do you think were close to that point . No, i think this is part of look, i mentioned before theres a marked contempt for a lot of ordinary americans who may disagree with the ruling elite and, therefore, theyre regarded as haters. And in the list, i think, is part of this. But we saw it a couple years ago with mozilla, he contributed to the traditional marriage part of the proposition 8 campaign, and he was forced out of his job. So theres this name and shame, the idea to take a law thats meant to have accountability and weaponize it against ordinary citizens is just extraordinary. And remember, theres a famous Supreme Court case, 1950