[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8641-8642]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          MASS SHOOTING IN ORLANDO AND DONALD TRUMP'S RHETORIC

  Mr. REID. Madam President, throughout history, in times of crisis and 
tragedy, the American people look to leaders for one thing: leadership. 
Americans don't want to hear excuses. We don't want to hear self-
congratulations, nor do we want to hear scapegoating. It is a very 
simple concept: We want our leaders to lead.
  In the aftermath of Sunday's shooting at the Pulse nightclub in 
Orlando, FL, a place of celebration for the LGBT community, Donald 
Trump proved that he is as terrible a leader as he is a businessman. 
Trump proved he is not the person to lead our Nation through difficult 
times or, in fact, anytime. Trump failed the most important of tests 
for a Presidential candidate: how

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to respond in a crisis. When our citizens are under attack, how do you 
respond? Donald Trump failed that test. Trump proved he is not the 
person to lead our Nation through a crisis. He is not Commander in 
Chief material--underlined and underscored.
  It doesn't matter what the problem has been, Trump has failed. Trump 
isn't the person we want to have his finger on the nuclear button 
because he is clearly incapable of that responsibility. That is not 
just me saying it; even the junior Senator from Florida has questioned 
whether Trump can be trusted with such an enormous obligation. But the 
fact that Donald Trump can't be trusted with the nuclear codes hasn't 
stopped Senator Rubio or many other Republicans from endorsing Trump 
for the highest office in the land. There is absolutely no question--
none--that Donald Trump is not capable enough or experienced enough to 
have this high-level responsibility. We expect more from a Commander in 
Chief.
  Here is how Trump responded to Sunday's massacre--classic Trump. 
Within hours of the shooting, Trump first congratulated himself and 
then began to immediately denigrate Muslim Americans. Trump then 
suggested that our President and one of Secretary Clinton's aides may 
be in league with Islamic terrorists. Let me repeat that. Donald Trump 
suggested that President Obama and one of Secretary Clinton's aides may 
be in league with Islamic terrorists. Is that outrageous? Of course it 
is.
  It is outrageous for Donald Trump to suggest that the President of 
the United States, our Commander in Chief, would support terrorists and 
the murder of innocent Americans, but yesterday, 1 day after the mass 
shooting--it is the worst in modern American history--Trump, the 
standard bearer for the Republican Party, went even further. Trump 
delivered one of the most un-American speeches ever from a major party 
nominee--ever. Trump was hateful and vicious. He was Donald Trump. He 
was everything that Republicans knew him to be when they made him the 
party's nominee. Donald Trump used his remarks to foment hatred against 
millions of innocent Americans based solely on what? Their religion. He 
denigrated Muslim Americans--all 8 million of them. The Republican 
nominee suggested that all Muslim Americans were complicit in the 
Orlando shooting, saying that they, Muslim Americans, ``know what's 
going on.'' Trump also renewed his call for a ban on all Muslims coming 
into the United States. The Trump speech was, as one news outlet called 
it, ``a dangerous mix of ignorance and arrogance.''
  If you are the parent of a Muslim American, how do you explain his 
speech to your child? If you are not a Muslim parent, how do you 
explain Trump's speech to your child? You can't. How do you look your 
son or daughter in the eye and explain that a man running for President 
is telling your classmates to be suspicious of you and to doubt your 
loyalty based purely on your religion? You can't explain it. I can't 
explain it. It is not possible to explain because this level of hate is 
not comprehensible. It is incomprehensible that any Presidential 
nominee would foster and promote systemic bigotry, as Trump often does. 
It is reprehensible and un-American for the nominee of any major party 
or any party to declare millions of Americans guilty until proven 
innocent purely by virtue of their religion.
  These are frightening times, and I understand that, and Trump's fear 
and paranoia are making us feel less safe. Trump is fanning the flames 
of violence and menace. There have already been reports of threats and 
obscenities being yelled at Muslims in Florida, Chicago, Seattle, and 
all across the country. Mosques all around the country have been 
threatened. Donald Trump's rhetoric has been encouraging this scary 
behavior.
  What we have seen from Trump in the 2 days since the Orlando shooting 
is rank and reckless, but no one should be surprised--this is vintage 
Donald Trump.
  Contrast Donald Trump's actions with the response from our Nation's 
Muslim communities. Muslim leaders all over America were some of the 
first to condemn this attack and rally in support of the LGBT 
community, and the Muslim community has taken part in the blood drive 
to help victims of the attack, as they always step forward.
  But while Americans within the Muslim and LGBT communities are trying 
to unite Americans in the aftermath of Sunday's shooting, Donald Trump 
is doing just the opposite. He is doing what he is so good at doing--
dividing. Then, in the wake of this awful massacre, Trump tried to cast 
himself as a friend of the LGBT community. How about that? But it 
didn't take minutes for a spokesman from the Human Rights Campaign, the 
Nation's largest gay rights group, to state that Trump is ``no friend'' 
of the community. What does this say about the Republican Party, that 
they are endorsing this vile man? It doesn't say much. What does it say 
about Republican Senators who are backing Trump for President? Not 
much. What does it say about the Senate Republican leadership, about 
the Senate Republican leader, who is supporting Trump? Not much. Every 
time the senior Senator from Kentucky reaffirms his commitment to 
support Trump he is validating Trump's behavior. He is giving credence 
to Donald Trump's rabid anti-everything speech--his un-American stance 
against Muslims, women, Latinos, Blacks, people with disabilities, 
immigrants, veterans, and others.
  If the Senators I have mentioned accept this kind of rhetoric as part 
of our political dialogue, they are all guilty of normalizing hatred. 
Senate Republicans are doing just that. When the leader of a major 
party is promoting unhinged conspiracy theories and calling for hatred 
against his fellow Americans based solely on their religion, we are in 
dangerous and uncharted waters. We must make clear that Donald Trump 
does not speak for us. I am trying to do that. We must stand arm in arm 
with our Muslim allies around the world who have been victims of 
terrorism, who say to the radicals: not in my name, not in my name. 
Remember, Muslims around the world are helping us defeat the 
terrorists. Who has suffered so much because of this crazy brand of 
hatred? Who has suffered more than anyone else? Muslims. We don't know 
how many are dead in Iraq following the invasion--half a million? We 
know there are at least 300,000 in Syria--Muslims. We must stand arm in 
arm with our Muslim allies in the world who are victims of this 
terrorism.
  Any Republican who cherishes the American values of religious freedom 
and tolerance should immediately do the same and say: not in my name. 
Republican Senators should say: not in my name. Republicans must do 
what they haven't had the courage to do--stand up to Trump and say: No 
more, stop it. He is not a leader. He is unfit to be our President and 
unfit to stand for the values on which this great country was founded.
  As for the Republican leader in the Senate, Senator McConnell should 
be the first to condemn Trump's hateful rhetoric and reject his 
Presidential candidacy. Let's hope the senior Senator from Kentucky can 
bring himself to do just that and do it soon.
  Madam President, what is the business of the day?

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