Late update: Brown tweeted on Wednesday that he plans to meet with Trump in Dayton after all.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said on Tuesday that he won’t meet with President Donald Trump during his visit to Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday due to Trump’s “racist rhetoric” and “total unwillingness” to address gun control.
“I will not be there with him,” Brown told SiriusXM radio host Joe Madison on “The Joe Madison Show.”
“I don’t have any interest because of what he’s done on this, total unwillingness to address the issue of guns, his racist rhetoric,” the Democratic senator continued. “I don’t know what he’s going to say and do there. I mean I welcome him to the state in some sense, but not about this.”
Brown said he hopes Trump apologizes for “his racist rhetoric and his divisive tones.”
Trump plans to visit both Dayton and El Paso, Texas on Wednesday after both cities experienced mass shootings over the weekend that killed a total of 31 people.
During his press conference responding to the shootings, Trump leaned on the now-predictable Republican talking point about gun violence: that mental illness is to blame for the massacres, not guns.
“Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger, not the gun,” Trump said.
Listen to Brown’s comments below:
Sherrod Brown: Dillards is having a sale in Toledo and I can’t miss that.
Pencil Necked DemocRat Hides From MAGA Adonis’ Toldeo Visit
NYT’s Headline Writer
Extremely smart of him. He was just re-elected so he doesn’t have to worry about an upcoming election and he’s very well thought of in OH. The Mayor of Dayton should do the same.
Thank you, Senator. That’s how it’s done.
I think it would be fitting to instead commemorate the Bowling Green Massacre…