President Donald Trump has connected race and mental illness to the two mass shootings in the US at the weekend, but has ignored gun laws and the link to racist ideology.
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Trump sent out tweets of support after the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio which together killed at least 29 people, but did not appear until preparing to fly back to Washington from his New Jersey golf course, late on Sunday.
"Hate has no place in our country, and we're going to take care of it," Trump declared before boarding Air Force One.
He ignored questions about the anti-immigration language in a manifesto written by the El Paso shooter that mirrors some of his own rhetoric.
In recent weeks, the president has issued racist tweets about four women of colour who serve in Congress, and has spoken of an "invasion" at the southern border.
Democrats who are campaigning to deny Trump a second term were quick to lay blame at the president's feet, for his incendiary rhetoric about immigrants.
"You reap what you sow, and he is sowing seeds of hate in this country. This harvest of hate violence we're seeing right now lies at his feet," Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "He is responsible.".
The number of hate groups has surged to record highs under Trump's presidency, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre.
Beto O'Rourke, a 2020 Democratic contender, said on CNN's "State of the Union. "He is an open, avowed racist and is encouraging more racism in this country. And this is incredibly dangerous for the United States of America right now."
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended the president's response, saying Trump was "a combination of saddened by this and he's angry about it." Mulvaney told ABC's "This Week" that Trump's first call was "to the attorney general to find out what we could do to prevent this type of thing from happening."
"These are sick people," he said. "And we need to figure out what we can do to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Mulvaney focused on the challenges of mental illness and largely dodged the notion of supporting widespread gun control measures, though he pointed out the administration banned bump stocks, which help turn semi-automatic weapons into even more lethal automatic ones.
Australian Associated Press
