President Donald Trump promised to take his rhetoric down a notch as a way to help this country heal in the wake of two mass shootings last weekend. However, as he so often does, he apparently said one thing and then did the complete opposite, launching attacks on local leaders and commemorating his trips with photos of him grinning with hospital staff, The Washington Post reports.
Traditionally, presidents have sought to comfort Americans when national tragedies occur, but the day made obvious Trump’s utter inability to unify the country and offer empathy.
So when Trump visited El Paso to offer his condolences after a white supremacist allegedly massacred Latinos at a local Walmart, he was not met with enthusiasm. Some city leaders, along with thousands of citizens declared him unwelcome. And not a single one of the eight patients being cared for at the University Medical Center consented to see him either.
The patients are under no obligation to meet Trump, said Ryan Mielke, spokesperson for the University Medical Center in El Paso.
“This is a very sensitive time in their lives,” Mielke said. “Some of them said they don’t want to meet with the president. Some of them didn’t want any visitors.”
However, Mielke noted, prior to Trump’s visit many of the hospitalized patients did accept visits from local elected officials and Democratic lawmakers.
But Trump, tone-deaf and unsympathetic as usual took the occasion to blast Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Dayton Ohio Democratic mayor Nan Brown after both criticized his visit with hospital patients in Dayton.
And of course, Trump took the opportunity to pat himself on the shoulder.
“We had an amazing day,” Trump said while concluding his El Paso visit. “As you know, we left Ohio. The love, the respect for the office of the presidency.”
But Twitter users weren’t feeling the love after a video emerged showing Trump chatting with staffers alongside Melania Trump at the University Medical Center in El Paso, Raw Story reports. The president had taken the opportunity to boast about a February rally in El Paso and claimed he attracted a crowd larger than Beto O’Rourke, who was also appearing in a city event at the time.
And these Twitter users know Trump doesn’t care if he’s behaving callously, as long as he can promote himself. So they called him out on it.
This is absolutely disgraceful! More so bc NONE of the hospitalized victims in EL Paso would meet w/Trump, so he had two discharged pts come back to the hospital for his grossly inappropriate campaign video paid for illegally by taxpayers. #TrumpHospitalFarce
— MakeGOPDisappear;BanVotingMachines (@baobann) August 8, 2019
My god he’s such an embarrassment. And that 40% of voters want to re-elect him is a gut punch.
— Lundemo (@Lundemo14) August 8, 2019
This is why they don't let reporters in. They know he's a disaster.
— Groots (@GretaGroots) August 8, 2019
He is such a small, sad man.
— End Gun Violence Now (@agog146) August 8, 2019
One of many reasons why @realDonaldTrump is one the most hated individuals in the world. #ImpeachTrump
— Pankaj Ramani (@pmramani) August 8, 2019
so glad to hear some of the victims recovering from their wounds refused to see him … sure the admin won't include that info in their ridiculous promotion video they made of these visits …
— greenlight (@stevenk11011) August 8, 2019
Funny how he looks into the eyes of a white guy but when a brown woman tells him her entire family was killed elsewhere, he asks how are they.
— Issa Me (@KitchenGuy617) August 8, 2019
This is disgusting. I can't unsee it. I need to be more careful when I click on any Trump video. Horrifying. https://t.co/L3WUJ21AaF
— Ramona Grigg (@RamonaGrigg) August 8, 2019
Once again Trump has managed to re-focus the national tragedy of mass killings on himself and we can be certain that nothing meaningful will be done to stop these atrocities.
Are you really surprised?
Featured image courtesy of the video above
