President Trump on Monday misstated the location of one of two mass shootings that occurred over the weekend during a speech condemning the violence, referring to Toledo, Ohio instead of Dayton, Ohio.
“May God bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo, may God protect them. May God protect all of those from Texas to Ohio. May God bless the victims and their families,” Trump said from the Diplomatic Room of the White House.{mosads}
The president’s slip came at the end of a 10-Minute speech in which he decried the “barbaric slaughters” in Dayton and El Paso, Texas, which occurred within hours of each other over the weekend.
Trump read his speech from a TelePrompTer, though it’s unclear whether the prepared remarks included Toledo, or if the president simply misspoke.
The official White House transcript of Trump’s remarks crossed out the president’s reference to Toledo.
A gunman killed 20 people and wounded dozens more in an attack at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday. He allegedly wrote a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto before the attack, which described fears of a Latino “invasion.” Hours later, a gunman with a history of making violent threats killed nine people and injured dozens more in Dayton.
“Toledo. Fck me,” Rep. Tim Ryan, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate from Northeast Ohio, tweeted, referring to Trump’s remarks.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz (D) said a statement that it is “pretty obvious” that Trump misspoke, adding that he prays that leaders in Washington summon the courage “to stop the senseless mass slaughter that continues to occur in our country.”
“We remain the only country on Planet Earth where mass shootings continue to happen on a regular basis. This doesn’t happen frequently in other parts of the world,” he said. “Why do we allow it to happen here?”
Joe Biden, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, also made a mistake when speaking about the shootings on Sunday night. The former vice president referred to “tragic events” in Houston and Michigan before correcting himself.
Trump has been a target of criticism in the wake of the massacres, particularly the shooting in El Paso. Democratic lawmakers and political pundits have cited Trump’s own rhetoric describing the influx of migrants as an “invasion” and painting immigrants broadly as criminals.
Multiple Democratic presidential candidates have blamed Trump for worsening tensions and suggested the president has contributed to rising violence.
“The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed with racist hate,” Trump said during his remarks on Monday. “In one voice, our nation must condemn bigotry, hatred and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.”
–This report was updated at 1:30 p.m.