President Donald Trump has praised the NRA and its leaders as "Great People and Great American Patriots," but one student who survived the Parkland, Fla., school shooting wants you to know that the group's lobbyists are not patriots.
“Would American patriots try to buy democracy from the American people?” David Hogg, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, asked in a Cheddar interview Friday.
“Will they lobby to implore them to make their voices more heard than others? Would they lobby American citizens to make sure that these children are murdered as a result of their inaction, because of [their] backing political figures?
“That’s not what I see as an American patriot. That's what I see as a coward and child murderer.”
The 17-year-old senior, a self-proclaimed Second Amendment supporter, is one of several Parkland students who’ve taken up the fight for gun control in the wake of last week’s attack, in which 17 people were killed.
And even though the #NeverAgain movement has drawn a lot of attention and support, Hogg doesn’t yet count it as a success.
“We’ve seen some reaction, but we haven’t seen literally any bills passed,” he said. “We’ve gotten people to pay attention. We need action though.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/parkland-survivor-and-gun-activist-david-hogg-talks-neveragain-movement).
There has been a series of violent attacks in Afghanistan in the past week as U.S. troops withdrawal deadline approaches. The evacuation effort is winding down with 1,200 people evacuated in the last 24 hours, compared to last week's 24-hour span high of 21,000, and it is reported that there are around 250 people still waiting to be airlifted.
Dan Lamothe, national security reporter at The Washington Post, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss more on what is going to happen when all evacuation and withdrawal missions are completed.
Futures pointed to a slightly higher open on the heels of Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying the central bank is on track to taper its asset purchases later this year. Milton Ezrati, Chief Economist at Vested joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
