Last weekend, deadly mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas sent the country

yet again into a national conversation about gun safety and violent tragedy.

In the wake of these shootings, President Trump has faced controversy over his approach

to a president's traditional role as consolar and healer of a nation grieving.

Trump offered a unifying message in speeches read from scripts and teleprompters, but he

did so on the backdrop of more than two years of demonizing minorities and inflaming racial

animus in America.

This moment illustrates Trump's limitations in comforting the nation after tragedy.

Beyond comfort, it also sheds light on what a president can and cannot do to affect gun

violence in this country.

This week, Trump is publicly and privately considered a handful of ideas, things like background

checks for gun purchases and red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who

might be dangerous.

But Trump has suggested action on gun control in the past only to later backtrack when

the pressure lowers and the tragedies fade from the headlines.

Will this time be different?

How much can Trump even do when it's up to Congress to make the laws in our country?

And how could a president's influence affect members of his party on a major issue?

This is Ken, he do that, a podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American

presidency.

I'm Alison Pichles.

I turned to my colleague White House reporter, Sung Min Kim, to help me understand the

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