June 12th - Week 2

On Sunday June 12th, I watched Meet the Press with Chuck Todd on NBC. His guests and pundits included Pete Williams, Tom Brokaw, Hugh Hewitt, Amy Walter, Joy-Ann Reid, and Jeff Flake. He also has Bernie Sanders, David Plouffe, and Steve Schmidt on the show.
     Early Sunday morning around 2 A.M., there was a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, so Todd addressed the shooting for a large portion of the show. There were at least 20 dead and 42 wounded, but more people were discovered dead later in the week. The shooter held hostages in the club until police came, and the shooter was killed in the gunfire. Todd showed several eyewitness accounts from survivors in the club and family of people who were killed. He also discussed gun control and terrorism with NBC News justice correspondent, Pete Williams.
     Todd gathered his news team and discussed those same issues. Tom Brokaw suggested that both Republicans and Democrats need to have a healthy discussion about gun control because of the several mass shootings in America, even in the past year. Hugh Hewitt discusses how powerful and terrorizing ISIS is, similar to how Amy Walter says that citizens and parents are scared to anything because the threat of ISIS. Joy-Ann Reid talks of people who are targeted by terrorism. I did not approve that Reid said the Orlando shooting was a hate crime when the shooter's intent was not yet decided. I think that was an inappropriate statement, even though the shooting was a horrible event. Todd repeatedly says he wants America to have a conversation about terrorism and gun control at the same time. I believe that America lacks moral for gun control and needs to realize that mass shootings cannot be a routine occurrence in our country.
     Now onto the political race, Clinton is up three points, and Romney loyalists attack Trump. Trump shoots back to say that he will win and will not "choke" how Romney did. Senator of Arizona, Jeff Flake, comes on the show. Todd asks him why America cannot have a debate discussing both terrorism and gun control. Flake gives a roundabout answer to this question, I believe he "dodged" the question to maintain his reputation and avoid getting criticism from the press. Despite avoiding that question, Flake speaks out to say that he is uncomfortable supporting Trump and feels that his racist comments will affect the ballots. Flake laughs when he is asked if he can see himself voting for Clinton, but he does not think Trump will change as a candidate.
     Bernie Sanders is brought onto the show and says he will do everything in his power to make sure Trump will not win the election. He will meet with Hillary Clinton soon to discuss her campaign.
     Meet the Press included a new segment called War Room when two political figures are interviewed by Todd. This week, he brought on David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama in 2008, and the senior adviser for McCain in 2008, Steve Schmidt. They are asked about the similarities to the 2008 race and the current presidential race. Schmidt says Trump has been the primary Republican candidate, but his controversies and division of the party is not putting that to good use. I agree and believe that Trump is not using the tools he has in the election. Plouffe believes that Clinton's campaign needs to be incredibly smart, because if she loses certain states, it can seriously affect her stance in the race. Although, Clinton has advantages in several states, and that is because more states are primarily Democrat, so Trump has more places to lose only because of the political standpoint of the states.
     To conclude, this week on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd and team discussed gun control and terrorism in America. The also talked about how America handles these issues and how they should be fixed. He also meets with several political figures to discuss the progress of the race for president as the election nears. There are currently several factors affecting the race, and it is incredibly interesting to see how it will pan out in the upcoming months.