Trump greeted by protests as he visits Dayton, El Paso

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump was met Wednesday with fierce pushback as he visited two cities where gunmen killed dozens of innocent people.

At his first stop, people thronged the streets of Dayton, Ohio, where nine people were killed early Sunday morning.

The White House billed the visits as opportunities to unite Americans after the tragedies, but many of those who gathered in the popular nightlife area where the mass shooting in Ohio took place and the hospital where victims are being treated held signs calling for gun reform and questioning Trump's effect on the national discourse.

A smaller group of pro-Trump supporters thanked the president.

His visit was preceded by strong criticism over his use of divisive rhetoric that is oftentimes nativist and alarmist.

The mayors of Dayton and El Paso, Texas, the site of the first of last weekend's tragedies, cautioned the president against continuing to use similar language when he talks about immigrants.

But Trump has been undeterred, saying before he left the White House that he does not believe his rhetoric has contributed "at all" to violence.

"My critics are political people. They’re trying to make points," he told reporters. "I think my rhetoric brings people together."

Democratic presidential candidate and former congressman Beto O’Rourke took part in a demonstration as Trump arrived in El Paso Wednesday afternoon.

O'Rourke has been a stern critic of the president's anti-immigrant rhetoric and told the El Paso rally the president "demonizes communities like this one" and "vilifies" immigrants.

"Though we bore the brunt of this hatred and this racism, and this intolerance, and this violence, I believe that this community also holds the answer, not just for El Paso, but for a country that has never been more divided or more highly polarized," O'Rourke said.

"The way that we welcome one another, and see our differences -- not as disqualifying or dangerous, but as the very source of our strength, as the foundation of our success -- that needs to be the example to the United States of America today."

Trump kicked off his 2016 White House bid with a rally in which he said Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers but conceded mildly that "some, I assume, are good people”.

So far, 22 people have died following the mass shooting near the U.S.-Mexico border that federal investigators are treating as a case of domestic terrorism.

The suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, was taken into custody after 20 people were killed and 26 others were injured during the attack. Two of the injured victims died at a hospital Monday.

Just minutes before the tragedy, a racist screed was posted to 8chan, a website popular with extremists, titled “The Inconvenient Truth,” which railed against an alleged "Hispanic invasion of Texas” and assailed "race mixing" while pledging an imminent attack.

“I am simply defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion,” it said. "This is just the beginning of the fight for America and Europe. I am honored to head the fight to reclaim my country from destruction."

Investigators are attributing the writing to Crusius, a resident of Dallas, Texas.