What: A montage that posits violence in video games is at least partly responsible for America’s mass shooting problem.
Who: The actual White House.
Why we care: So far, Donald Trump’s main explanation for the abundance of school shootings in America (and only America) is not that guns are ridiculously accessible here, but rather that we have a mental health crisis. It would be a more convincing argument if his administration hadn’t been continually limiting people’s access to and understanding of mental health, while simultaneously making it easier for the mentally ill to get guns. But I digress! Beyond mental health, Trump has also found another scapegoat recently that would allow him to not have to wade through the thorny issue of gun control in any meaningful way: violent movies and video games. (There should be “a rating system,” said the president, who is in fact president.)
This week, Trump ramped up his charade of a crusade, despite the fact that no link between video games and violence has ever been established. He held a meeting with gaming industry bigwigs and Republican lawmakers to shame the former for America’s school shooting epidemic. At some point during the meeting, Trump, ever the showman, made his point by playing a montage of violent scenes from video games. I know what you’re thinking–case closed!–but no, the meeting went on from there before sputtering out in an unproductive haze of Let The Record Show We Tried Stuff.
Amazingly enough, though, the White House made the blame-proving video game montage video available to the public, and you can watch it below.
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