Politics & Government

Trump and Clinton on Orlando: A study in contrasts

By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar

McClatchy Washington Bureau

June 12, 2016 06:16 PM

President Barack Obama speaks about the massacre at a Orlando nightclub during a news conference at the White House in Washington, Sunday, June 12, 2016. Pablo Martinez Monsivais AP
WASHINGTON

Donald Trump seized on the worst shooting in U.S. history to call for a more muscular response to Islamic terrorism – and later noted he’d been congratulated "for being right." Hillary Clinton called it an “act of terror” and called for more curbs on guns.

The two responses illustrated the starkly different approaches the two presumptive presidential nominees could take to governing.

Trump, who has made combating Islamic terrorism a centerpiece of his campaign, tweeted Sunday that he was "praying for the victims & their families” of the Orlando massacre that left 50 dead. But he also added: “When will this stop? When will we get tough, smart & vigilant?"

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has proposed a temporary ban on Muslim immigration – sparked a backlash with a later tweet: "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!"

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Trump called for President Barack Obama – who spoke from the White House – to denounce the overnight shooting as the result of religious terrorism. The shooter, who was felled by police bullets, was identified as Omar Mateen, 29, who was born in the U.S. and is of Afghan descent.

"Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism?" Trump tweeted before Obama spoke. " If he doesn't he should immediately resign in disgrace!"

Obama called the assault an "act of terror and an act of hate," but said investigators had reached "no definitive judgment" for the killer’s motive.

Trump has reacted to past shootings in a similar vein and declared in March that his response to the terrorist attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino had changed the tone of the presidential campaign, and helped him clear the field of his presidential rivals.

“We need protection in our country and that’s going to happen,” he said, noting that after the Paris attacks, “the poll numbers shot up.”

Trump said in a statement that he’ll deliver a speech on Monday on the attack, immigration, and national security, calling the shooter “the son of an immigrant from Afghanistan who openly published his support for the Afghanistani Taliban” and accusing his likely Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, of wanting to “dramatically increase admissions from the Middle East.”

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Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, initially reacted with characteristic caution Sunday, saying on Twitter that her thoughts were with those affected by the "horrific act" as she waited for more information.

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