Chris Matthews Hammers Trump For Going ‘AWOL’ While High Schoolers Show More Leadership On Guns

Chris Matthews blasted Donald Trump for going AWOL while high school students across the country – particularly those who survived the tragedy in Parkland, Florida – are showing more leadership when it comes to preventing gun violence.

To See President Biden's 5 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondents Dinner visit The Daily.

The MSNBC host pointed out that there is a huge leadership vacuum following the shooting in Florida, which left 17 dead, and higher schoolers are filling it.

Video:

Matthews said:

The president of the United States is AWOL. In his response to last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, President Trump doesn’t mention the word “guns.” In his absence, a group of high school students from that Florida town have taken the moral reins, giving a youthful, insistent voice to the country’s anger and frustration.

The MSNBC host later interviewed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Chris Grady who called out America’s “disgusting” gun laws and said NRA-owned politicians will be voted out if they continue to block common-sense regulations to prevent these massacres.

Video:

Grady said:

You know, it’s absolutely disgusting how easy it is to access, you know, these assault weapons. No other country in the world — it’s not easy like it is in America. And of course, America has constant mass shootings. It seems to be like a daily thing now. But, you know, we know what we’re up against. The NRA has consolidated a lot of power. They have a lot of politicians in their back pocket. But as long as politicians continue to get money from the NRA, we’re going to vote them out. So they’re going to get what’s coming to them. 

Trump’s silence on guns has been deafening

This is a president who recklessly weighs in on all sorts of issues, from the NFL pre-game activities to television ratings. The fact that he has chosen to remain largely silent on gun violence – something that results in more than 90 deaths per day – speaks volumes about NRA influence over him and his allies in Congress.

In Trump’s post-Parkland shooting remarks, he failed to even mention guns. But young people have spoken up loudly since the massacre and are showing the kind of leadership that the President of the United States refuses to.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.