President Trump Blasted for Tweet Promoting MMA Fighter Following Walmart El Paso Shooting

Donald Trump rubbed many people the wrong way following his comments on the shocking El Paso [...]

By Andrew Roberts

Donald Trump rubbed many people the wrong way following his comments on the shocking El Paso Walmart shooting on Saturday. Shortly after the shooting, reports indicated that Trump was informed of the shooting and was speaking to advisors. Soon after he released a statement on Twitter.

"Terrible shootings in El Paso, Texas. Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement," Trump tweeted at the time. "Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!"

While the president's initial comments would be called "presidential" by most, he followed it by self-promoting his own statement shortly after and then posted a photo with UFC champion Colby Covington.

trump_colby
(Photo: Donald Trump/Twitter)

Many felt the proximity of the tweets helped to show how shallow Trump's comments about the shooting actually were.

"This is insensitive, even for a White House occupant without compassion," one critic wrote.

"So glad you got over that pesky El Paso story. You have a lot of blood on your hands," another wrote. "If you can't stay focused on a national tragedy, do you think that you could just let your Twitter feed go dark for the rest of today out of respect?"

"I see the shooting is really getting to you," a third criticized.

"Well some people seem to be moving on from the national tragedy," one critic posted pointing out the time. "What did you wait, 14 minutes?"

Some called back to how other president's reacted to mass shootings and seemed to show they cared about what happened.

"My president wept when mass shootings happened, you Tweet and 10 minutes later move on," a President Obama supporter wrote. "[My] president Obama tried and your people stopped him, my president was a leader, you are a complete mirserable failure...My President Obama wept."

The shooting in El Paso has reportedly taken the lives of at least 19 people at this point and left dozens injured. A single suspect was taken into custody without incident, reportedly identified as a white male in his 20s from the Dallas, Texas area.

Vice President Pence and several candidates for the 2020 election have also released statements to this point, including Beto O'Rourke. The Texas candidate gave a tearful statement about the shooting and added that he'd be returning home.

"I just learned on my way out here, in my hometown of El Paso, Texas, there is right now an active shooter or shooters at the Cielo Vista Mall," O'Rourke said. "And we've heard some initial reports of a very high number of people who have been injured right now, so I'm just thinking about El Paso. I want you to be thinking about El Paso as well. Just as I got the news, I called my wife Amy to talk to her — she's driving with my daughter Molly — and to talk to her."

0comments
Start the Conversation

of