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| Trump, Visiting Las Vegas Hospital, Pays Tribute to Wounded and Doctors | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| LAS VEGAS — President Trump paid tribute to the professionalism of the doctors who treated the Las Vegas shooting victims, saying that meeting with the patients at one hospital made him “proud to be an American.” | |
| The president said he met with some “absolutely terribly wounded” patients and hailed their bravery during the horrific attack Sunday night. He said many of those he met with were wounded as they sought to help others amid the hail of bullets from the shooter in a nearby hotel. | |
| “I think the only message I can say is that we are with you 100 percent,” Mr. Trump told reporters in brief remarks before heading to a meeting with law enforcement officials in Las Vegas. | |
| “I invited a lot of them to the White House,” he said. “I said, ‘If you’re ever in Washington, come on over to the Oval Office.’” | |
| Mr. Trump declined to answer a question about gun control, saying only that “we’re not going to talk about that today.” He repeatedly praised the work of the medical staff at the city’s hospitals, describing their work as an “incredible tribute to professionalism.” | |
| Later, Mr. Trump met with emergency workers, including Joseph Lombardo, the Las Vegas sheriff who has become a familiar face on television since the shootings. Mr. Lombardo told the president that “every single person in here” had helped to save lives. | |
| “You showed the world and the world was watching,” Mr. Trump said. “You showed the world what professionalism is all about. You should be very proud, sheriff.” | |
| The president called the gunman a “sick” and “demented” man and expressed optimism that law enforcement officials would find out more about what motivated the attack. | |
| Mr. Trump traveled here on Wednesday to comfort victims of Sunday’s deadly mass shooting and salute those who tended to them, taking up a harrowing duty of the modern presidency that has nevertheless become numbing in its regularity. | |
| A day after he visited hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump traded a natural disaster for one inflicted by man: 58 people killed by an assailant raining bullets into a crowded country music festival from the window of his hotel room high above them. | A day after he visited hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump traded a natural disaster for one inflicted by man: 58 people killed by an assailant raining bullets into a crowded country music festival from the window of his hotel room high above them. |
| “It’s a very sad thing,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he left the White House in the morning. “We’re going to pay our respects and to see the police who have done really a fantastic job in a very short time.” | |
| The president said the authorities were learning more about the gunman, Stephen C. Paddock, who killed himself in his room before police burst in, but he did not share any details. On Monday, he referred to Mr. Paddock as “a sick man, a demented man.” | The president said the authorities were learning more about the gunman, Stephen C. Paddock, who killed himself in his room before police burst in, but he did not share any details. On Monday, he referred to Mr. Paddock as “a sick man, a demented man.” |
| As the president was flying to Las Vegas, tensions inside his administration erupted back in Washington. On Air Force One, TV screens carried Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson’s refusal to comment on an NBC News report that he had called Mr. Trump a “moron.” He also insisted that he had never considered resigning. | As the president was flying to Las Vegas, tensions inside his administration erupted back in Washington. On Air Force One, TV screens carried Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson’s refusal to comment on an NBC News report that he had called Mr. Trump a “moron.” He also insisted that he had never considered resigning. |
| The president, tweeting from the plane, derided the report as “#FakeNews.” Afterward, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told reporters that Mr. Trump still had confidence in Mr. Tillerson. | The president, tweeting from the plane, derided the report as “#FakeNews.” Afterward, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told reporters that Mr. Trump still had confidence in Mr. Tillerson. |
| “As we’ve said many times before,” Ms. Sanders said, “if the president does not have confidence in somebody, they will no longer remain in their position.” She declined to say whether Mr. Tillerson had been instructed by the White House to deliver his statement. | “As we’ve said many times before,” Ms. Sanders said, “if the president does not have confidence in somebody, they will no longer remain in their position.” She declined to say whether Mr. Tillerson had been instructed by the White House to deliver his statement. |
| Mr. Trump has been uncharacteristically subdued about the Las Vegas shooting, one of the deadliest in American history. He has tweeted little about it and deflected questions about the killer’s motives, in contrast with previous mass shootings, which have drawn quick, furious reactions from him, particularly when the perpetrators were Muslim. | Mr. Trump has been uncharacteristically subdued about the Las Vegas shooting, one of the deadliest in American history. He has tweeted little about it and deflected questions about the killer’s motives, in contrast with previous mass shootings, which have drawn quick, furious reactions from him, particularly when the perpetrators were Muslim. |
| With no evidence linking Mr. Paddock to militant Islamic groups, this crime appears unlike the shootings in Orlando, Fla., or San Bernardino, Calif., both of which Mr. Trump seized on, as a candidate, to justify his ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries and to highlight the scourge of what he labels “radical Islamic terrorism.” | With no evidence linking Mr. Paddock to militant Islamic groups, this crime appears unlike the shootings in Orlando, Fla., or San Bernardino, Calif., both of which Mr. Trump seized on, as a candidate, to justify his ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries and to highlight the scourge of what he labels “radical Islamic terrorism.” |
| For Mr. Trump, the political subtext of Las Vegas has more to do with gun laws, which he campaigned against in 2016. On Tuesday, the president said this was not the moment to talk about new legislation, but he added, “We’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.” | |
| That appeared to open the door at least a crack, which was enough to rattle opponents of gun control. Breitbart News, the far-right website run by Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, said his political base would not tolerate the president softening his defense of gun rights. | That appeared to open the door at least a crack, which was enough to rattle opponents of gun control. Breitbart News, the far-right website run by Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, said his political base would not tolerate the president softening his defense of gun rights. |
| Mr. Bannon has told colleagues that he planned to keep Mr. Trump “under a microscope” while he was in Las Vegas to make sure he does not signal any further flexibility on gun legislation. | Mr. Bannon has told colleagues that he planned to keep Mr. Trump “under a microscope” while he was in Las Vegas to make sure he does not signal any further flexibility on gun legislation. |
| Mr. Trump would prefer to keep the focus Wednesday on the police and other law enforcement officials, whom he has repeatedly praised for quickly tracking down the gunman in his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. That is familiar, comfortable ground for him. | Mr. Trump would prefer to keep the focus Wednesday on the police and other law enforcement officials, whom he has repeatedly praised for quickly tracking down the gunman in his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. That is familiar, comfortable ground for him. |
| But he will also have to play a less comfortable role: that of the nation’s chief consoler. In reacting to other tragedies, Mr. Trump has struggled to convey empathy — defaulting to anger at the perpetrators, or, as in the case of the recent hurricanes, praise for his government’s response. | But he will also have to play a less comfortable role: that of the nation’s chief consoler. In reacting to other tragedies, Mr. Trump has struggled to convey empathy — defaulting to anger at the perpetrators, or, as in the case of the recent hurricanes, praise for his government’s response. |
| On Tuesday, in Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump delivered cheers for the military, his cabinet and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But his interactions with those who survived the storm were an awkward mix of campaign-style high jinks — at one point, he tossed rolls of paper towels into a crowd — and ill-timed attempts at humor, as when he told officials of Puerto Rico’s debt-ridden administration that “you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.” | On Tuesday, in Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump delivered cheers for the military, his cabinet and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But his interactions with those who survived the storm were an awkward mix of campaign-style high jinks — at one point, he tossed rolls of paper towels into a crowd — and ill-timed attempts at humor, as when he told officials of Puerto Rico’s debt-ridden administration that “you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.” |
| So far, Mr. Trump has stuck to a presidential script in speaking about Las Vegas. On Monday, in an address to the nation, he called for Americans to seek unity and peace over division. | So far, Mr. Trump has stuck to a presidential script in speaking about Las Vegas. On Monday, in an address to the nation, he called for Americans to seek unity and peace over division. |
| “Our unity cannot be shattered by evil,” the president said, reading from a teleprompter. “Our bonds cannot be broken by violence. And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today — and always will, forever.” | “Our unity cannot be shattered by evil,” the president said, reading from a teleprompter. “Our bonds cannot be broken by violence. And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today — and always will, forever.” |
| It is not a natural message, coming from a president who has often exploited divisions in American society, even in the wake of shootings, when he has zeroed in on the role of Muslims or accused opponents like Hillary Clinton of advocating wide-open immigration policies. | It is not a natural message, coming from a president who has often exploited divisions in American society, even in the wake of shootings, when he has zeroed in on the role of Muslims or accused opponents like Hillary Clinton of advocating wide-open immigration policies. |
| Even presidents with different politics and temperaments have struggled with how to respond to these shootings. Mr. Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, wept when he spoke of the slaughter of children at a Connecticut schoolhouse, and sang the hymn “Amazing Grace” when he eulogized the black parishioners gunned down in a church in Charleston, S.C. | Even presidents with different politics and temperaments have struggled with how to respond to these shootings. Mr. Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, wept when he spoke of the slaughter of children at a Connecticut schoolhouse, and sang the hymn “Amazing Grace” when he eulogized the black parishioners gunned down in a church in Charleston, S.C. |
| After Congress failed to enact legislation after the Sandy Hook, Conn., shooting, Mr. Obama shed tears again — this time in anger at a political establishment he said was in thrall to the National Rifle Association. | After Congress failed to enact legislation after the Sandy Hook, Conn., shooting, Mr. Obama shed tears again — this time in anger at a political establishment he said was in thrall to the National Rifle Association. |
| But late in his presidency, after police officers were shot in Dallas, a weary Mr. Obama spoke of feeling as though he had run out of words to adequately express either sorrow or resolve in the face of such relentless violence. | But late in his presidency, after police officers were shot in Dallas, a weary Mr. Obama spoke of feeling as though he had run out of words to adequately express either sorrow or resolve in the face of such relentless violence. |