No one cares if the President is consistent

I’m gonna go out on a limb here to say that no one gives a shit about the President’s past positions on this or anything else. Throughout his presidency Trump has changed his position on a ton of issues. He has even given contradictory positions in the same speech. No one cares because no one thinks presidential pronouncements mean all that much under Trump. How could they? Most things Trump says are not logically coherent.

Any barrier to getting new gun control measures passed will come down to how much the GOPers in the Senate are still beholden to the NRA and/or how much they still see a political benefit to towing the NRA’s line notwithstanding that group’s current meltdown. I don’t think many Senators are that ideologically committed to gun issues. It’s just that for years they have viewed gun rights absolutism as a key way to get support of their gun-nut base so that they can pursue the goals they really care about: slashing taxes for the rich and eliminating health, safety, labor, and environmental rules that hurt wealthy interests’ bottom line. Sure there might be a few GOP senators who are true believers in gun nuttery, but I really think they are the minority. The key to understanding the current Republican Party is they really only care about one thing. All those cultural issues (which is what gun control is for them) are just a means to advance their economic program to benefit the few at the expense of everyone else.