FREDRICKA WHITFIELD (GUEST HOST): Because there are some similarities in language choices from the president to [National Rifle Association CEO] Wayne LaPierre. “Hardening schools” for one.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON (CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER): Yeah. I mean it seems like he's borrowing from the NRA on this. I mean if you -- I think we've done this before, sort of side by side, what Wayne LaPierre is saying and then you hear what Trump says. I mean it's been said that Trump doesn't really have an ideology. And it's true that he isn't kind of born and bred to the Republican Party philosophy or the conservative philosophy. But he certainly usually arrives there, and he arrives there based on conversations he has, based on his viewing habits, watching Fox News, listening to folks on that network, listening to his son. So, yeah, I mean on this whole school shooting thing, the most prominent proposal he has talked about is this idea of hardening schools. It's something that the NRA likes. And some we see he even goes further than the NRA in terms of what he's talking about. They typically talk about security guards. But this ideal of concealed weapons all over schools, all across the country, that's not something they have even talked about in detail, even though that's something they have supported and pushed in some ways. So, yeah, I mean I think we're seeing a president that we often say, “Oh, he doesn't really know where he's going to land on this, and he's all over the place.” But his core does seem to line up in a very conservative way because that is his base. I mean at the end of that, he says, “I love you, I appreciate you.” He should have said, “I need you,” too. At some point he did sort of say that in terms of 2018 elections.
