By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump was met Wednesday with fierce pushback as he visited a city where a gunman killed nine innocent victims.
People thronged the streets of Dayton, Ohio where more than two dozen other victims were injured early Sunday morning.
The White House billed the visit as an opportunity to unite Americans after yet another mass shooting, but many of those who gathered in the popular nightlight area where the tragedy took place and the hospital where victims are being treated held signs calling for gun reform and questioning his effect on the national discourse.
A smaller group of pro-Trump supporters thanked the president.
His visit was preceded by strong criticism over his use of divisive rhetoric that is oftentimes nativist and alarmist.
The mayors of Dayton and El Paso, Texas, the site of the first of last weekend's tragedies where Trump will visit later Wednesday, cautioned the president against continuing to use similar language when he talks about immigrants.
But Trump has been undeterred, saying before he left the White House that he does not believe his rhetoric has contributed "at all" to violence.
"My critics are political people. They’re trying to make points," Trump told reporters. "I think my rhetoric brings people together."
Trump said he will be meeting first responders, law enforcement and some of the victims in Dayton.
Democratic presidential candidate former congressman Beto O’Rourke will be leading a demonstration as Trump arrives in El Paso, Texas later Wednesday.
O'Rourke has been a stern critic of the president's anti-immigrant rhetoric, and after being asked by a reporter what the president could do to make things better quickly slammed the question.
"What do you think? You know the sh** he’s been saying. He’s been calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. I don’t know, like, members of the press, what the f**k?" said O'Rourke, whose hometown is El Paso. "Connect the dots about what he's been doing in this country. He's not tolerating racism. He's promoting racism and violence in this country."
Trump kicked off his 2016 White House bid with a rally in which he said Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, but conceded mildly "some, I assume, are good people.”
So far, 22 people have died following the mass shooting near the U.S.-Mexico border that federal investigators are treating as a case of domestic terrorism.
The suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, was taken into custody after 20 people were killed and 26 others were injured during the attack. Two of the injured victims died at a hospital Monday.
Just minutes before the tragedy a racist screed was posted to the 8chan website titled. “The Inconvenient Truth,” which rails against an alleged "Hispanic invasion of Texas,” and assails "race-mixing" while pledging an imminent attack.
“I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion,” it said. "This is just the beginning of the fight for America and Europe. I am honored to head the fight to reclaim my country from destruction."
Investigators are attributing the writing to Crusius, a resident of Dallas, Texas.