Donald Trump landed in an expressly hostile El Paso, Texas Wednesday afternoon. This followed his low-key, definitely not-public stop-over in Dayton, Ohio. His stated reason for these trips: mourning with these cities and honoring the survivors and the law enforcement and medical personnel who saved lives. In between these visits, Trump spent his time on Air Force One rage tweeting about Joe Biden and Sen. Sherrod Brown and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley because unity. He also demonstration just how little he comprehended the gravity of what he had just experienced, treating the visit like just another campaign stop.
Meanwhile, on the way to El Paso, the current iteration of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham informed the traveling press corps that "This was about the victims and their families, and thanking medical staff. It wasn't about a photo-op for the President and the First Lady." While they all watched Trump tweet out all the photos he and Melania posed for in the hospital. Press was not allowed into his visits in Dayton, so we're not sure what all happened there. So there's that.
In El Paso, protestors gathered near the hospital Trump visited, hearing from activists and organizers and luminaries who were there to honor the dead and wounded and to speak to the unity of the city. Rev. William Barber was there and hometown former Rep. Beto O'Rourke continued to act as the city's stand-in for presidential leadership. He announced he will go to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, where seven of the victims came from, as well as attending victims' funerals.
Once again, reporters weren't allowed to accompany Trump in his visits. So, as after Dayton, the White House is tightly controlling the narrative and the images, using this as more propaganda to make the orange behemoth seem presidential.