For years, Democrats have responded to mass shootings by arguing that “thoughts and prayers” are insufficient. They’ve often argued that Republicans use this as a substitute for bona fide action on things like gun control.
The Trump administration has suddenly decided to push back.
Vice President JD Vance and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday both accused Democrats of attacking the concept of prayer with their comments after a school shooting in Minneapolis that killed two children. Vance, in particular, returned to the point repeatedly, including in a Fox News interview, seemingly sensing a political opportunity to make a point.
Their comments misled about what Democrats were actually saying. But it’s also a subject Democrats should probably be careful about given Americans’ belief in the power of prayer.
“Of all the weird left wing culture wars in the last few years, this is by far the most bizarre,” Vance posted on X. “‘How dare you pray for innocent people in the midst of tragedy?!’ What are you even talking about?”
In his Fox interview, he pitched Democrats as asking people to choose between prayer and action. “Why does it have to be one or the other?” he said. (At an unrelated event in Wisconsin, Vance indeed went beyond offering prayers, saying the Trump administration would be focusing on “the root causes of this violence” but focusing on mental health rather than guns.
Leavitt added at the White House briefing that “it’s utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country. And it’s disrespectful to the millions of Americans of faith.”
The first thing to note is the main examples of Democrats broaching the subject didn’t attack prayer, per se; they instead argued it was insufficient.
Former Biden White House press secretary and now MSNBC host Jen Psaki, to whom both Vance and Leavitt were responding, began her X post by saying, “Prayer is not freaking enough.”
“Prayers does [sic] not end school shootings,” Psaki wrote. “Prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.”
The other most-cited comments came from Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” Frey said, before citing the victims: “These kids were literally praying.”
Both Democrats’ comments imply prayer can play a role in the response to violence, but that it shouldn’t be viewed as a cure-all. Neither went as far as, per Vance’s summary, asking people to choose one or the other or saying, “How dare you pray?”
Democrats have been calling for more concrete action, beyond “thoughts and prayers,” for upwards of a decade.
But it’s also worth noting this is a message used by some faith leaders in response to such tragedies.
One of the Democrats who happens to have used it in recent years is one of two ordained ministers in the Senate, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia.
“In fact, it is a contradiction to that say you are thinking and praying and then do nothing,” Warnock said in 2023, after his own children were placed on lockdown during a mass shooting in Atlanta.
At the same time, though, comments that could be interpreted as questioning the utility of prayer after such events may also be something of a political minefield for Democrats.
More than 7 in 10 Americans said in a 2023 AP-NORC poll, for example, that they believed in the “power of prayer.”
Polling from around the time of earlier shootings also suggests they even see the power of it specifically applying to mass shootings.
After then-Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Arizona back in 2011, a Fox News poll asked Americans directly about the role of prayer. “Do you personally believe prayers literally helped Arizona Congresswoman Giffords survive the shooting, or don’t you believe that?” the poll asked.
Fully 77% said they believed prayer helped save Giffords, while just 17% doubted that.
You begin to see why Vance would seize on this criticism of Democrats, however slanted his summary was. People do tend to see prayer playing a positive role in tragedies – at least in not making them worse.
All of that said, the available evidence suggests Americans indeed don’t see prayer as some kind of cure-all.
Gallup polling around the turn of the century asked on multiple occasions about people’s prescriptions for preventing mass shootings – after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, the 2001 school shootings in California, and the Columbine massacre in 1999.
In each case, 3% Americans or less cited the need to pray at home and in school as their first priority.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Comments