“The President Regularly Inspires Killers” – John Legend on The El Paso and Dayton Shootings

“When we condemn the racist venom coming from the President’s mouth and point out the bigotry of his policies, it’s not an academic question, it’s not a political game, it’s about life and death.”

Saturday evening, mass shootings rattled the cities of El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH, respectively.

In the former, a white anti-immigrant terrorist was detained after opening fire in a local Walmart, claiming 20 lives and injuring dozens more. In the latter, a shooter took to a busy corner of the city’s historic district, gunning down 9 people (including his own sister) and leaving 30 more injured before he was killed by police.

John Legend, who was born in Springfield (just 30 minutes outside of Dayton,) took to Twitter to offer condolences to the victims and underscore the Trump administration’s role in the uptick of domestic terrorism since taking power in 2017 and the importance of calling out racist rhetoric and fear-mongering at every opportunity. Legend pleads with officials to “take urgent action” in battling “the evil ideology of white nationalism that motivates many of these terrorists.” He goes on to target Trump directly, stating “The president regularly inspires killers. He is a part of the problem.”

Other artists were just as vocal in condemning the administration and federal officials. Chuck D added that “The United States Of America has a severe issue with calling its Caucasian males ‘terrorists’ but quick triggered on calling all other ethnicities it.” Cardi B responded to an early-morning tweet from the president with an appeal to his culpability in the tragedies: “Both of the shooters are white supremacist terrorist with intentions to kill [minorities.] Law enforcement took rapid action but what are YOU going to do to control some of your RACIST SUPPORTERS?”

Scroll on to read John Legend’s statements in full.