They [people in El Paso] said, 'Do you think Trump is responsible for what happened?' And I said, 'Well, look. Obviously he didn't pull the trigger, but he's certainly been tweeting out the ammunition.

The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is. At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite. Therefore, I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege...Threatening the safety of elected officials, it’s no protest. It's insurrection. The world's watching. Like so many other Americans, I am shocked and saddened that our nation, so long the beacon of light and hope for democracy, has come to such a dark moment...President Trump: Step up.

Unfortunately, the president's first reaction was not, “How can I protect the troops?” It was, “How can I protect myself?” He issued a Twitter denial that he knew about the bounties, then proceeded to launch irrelevant attacks at former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. As is so often the case with President Trump, the welfare of the nation and of our troops did not come up. This is not what leadership looks like. These are not the actions of someone who serves — or even cares about — the troops to whom he has a duty. These are the actions of a man concerned with self-preservation and little else. President Trump receives well-deserved criticism for failing to serve his country in Vietnam. Yet, given the lack of loyalty to the troops he has displayed in recent months, that might have been for the best.

Mr. Bannon's and Mr. Trump's privilege arguments do appear to reveal one thing, however: they suggest that President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th

Reporter: Are you willing to go to war with Iran?
Trump: You'll find out. You'll find out.

At President @realDonaldTrump’s direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services. We reiterate President Trump’s call against violence and to remain peaceful.

Do you want this job?” the president asked McMaster. “Yes, sir.” “You got it,” Trump said and shook McMaster’s hand. “Get the media. Get the cameras in here.” He wanted a picture with his latest general who looked out of Central Casting.

: Donald Trump: [aside to audience, pointing at Sean] He's doing great. [to Sean] Except for day one. I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.

I don’t know if that’s a real request or him just needling the press, knowing that you guys were gonna get outraged by it. [Trump’s] pretty good at getting everybody fired up, and he’s been doing it for a while now, and the media responded right on task

Let’s dispel with this fiction that @POTUS doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

Trump was not silent, however. He issued a stream of confident pronouncements informing the public that it was just a cough; he has everything under control; he gets a 10 out of 10 for his handling of the crisis; it's very serious but he knew it was a pandemic before anyone else; and the rest of the sorry performance. The technique is well-designed, much like the practice of reeling out lies so fast that the very concept of truth vanishes. Whatever happens, Trump is sure to be vindicated among his loyal followers. When you shoot arrows at random, some are likely to hit the target.

Now, when a prime minister of the country comes to the president and tells him to shoot him, [that] he has made too many mistakes and he is almost weeping, the only conclusion the president can arrive at is the man has lost his nerves and is no longer able to continue as prime minister.

What is important to me now is that end this back and forth, back and forth that had been lack of caliber on the other side. Just imagine and I want to indulge all of his surrogates, after we made the speech, if Donald Trump would have not taken that cheap shot at the gold star mother, we'd not be having these conversations, these discussions. Sometime for a candidate for a higher office has to have the capacity to bear with the criticism. If I had exercised my First Amendment rights as Mr. Trump does, as Donald Trump does, again and again and again, as he had been maligning Hillary Clinton, calling her names and other leaders, if he can exercise the freedom of his speech rights, so can I. But he is the candidate for the highest office, a much larger caliber is needed, tolerance, patience. When a person becomes , president, you are president and Commander-in-Chief of everybody that has supported you and that has not supported you.

But yesterday, President Trump, hounded by the radical voices of the hard right, threw another temper tantrum, and here we are, once again, on the brink of what the President has spent months saying he wanted: a Trump shutdown. The President will try to do his best to blame Democrats, but it's flatly absurd. President Trump called for a shutdown no less than twenty-five times. In our meeting in the Oval Office, President Trump said, quote: "If we don't get what we want, I, President Trump, will shut down the government." "I am proud to shut it down," said President Trump. "I'm not going to blame you," meaning Democrats, "I will take the mantle of shutting it down." Those are President Trump's words and nothing he says or does today can undo that. No Democrat has called for shutting the government down. We are all working to avoid it. The President seems to relish it. He seems to feel it'll throw a bone to his base. The problem being, his base is less than one quarter of America. Mr. President, President Trump- you cannot erase months of video of you saying that you wanted a shutdown and that you wanted the responsibility and blame for a shutdown. President Trump, you own the shutdown. You said so in your own words.