Clinton, Trump Differ On Response To Orlando Shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Politics quickly came into play after the shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead.
The presumptive presidential candidates weighed in on what can be done to prevent another massacre.
WCCO's Jennifer Mayerle spoke with a political analyst who calls this a testing ground for the candidates.
"We have a dysfunctional immigration system, which does not permit us to know who we let into our country," said Donald Trump after the shooting.
"None of us can close our eyes to the fact that we do face enemies who use their distorted version of Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people," said Hillary Clinton.
Larry Jacobs is a political analyst and University of Minnesota professor.
"We saw them come out with very different prescriptions on how to avoid these kinds of massacres," Jacobs said.
Clinton wants to increase resources for law enforcement and to cooperate with Muslim Americans.
"We should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them," she said.
Trump continued his push to ban foreign-born Muslims from entering the country.
"The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here," he said.
Trump pointed to the 9/11 hijackers, San Bernardino shooters and what's happening in the Twin Cities.
"Large numbers of Somali refugees in Minnesota have tried to join ISIS," Trump said.
"This is no longer a debate between established parties who essentially disagree between the 40 yard lines," Jacobs said. "Donald Trump is playing an entirely different ball game and he's raising issues that frankly we have not seen before in presidential politics."
Jacobs says voters have a choice to make. Follow Clinton's plan out of the Democratic playbook, or support Trump's dramatic departure from previous Republican presidential candidates.
Jacobs expects a reshuffling of presidential politics on this issue of national security, and others, leading up to the November election.