President Trump Comparing Murder Victim to Tom Selleck Not Offensive to Mother

President Donald Trump made many uncomfortable when he compared a murder victim to Tom Selleck on [...]

President Donald Trump made many uncomfortable when he compared a murder victim to Tom Selleck on Friday, but the deceased man's mother took no issue with it.

President Trump hosted the families of several murder victims at the White House on Friday as part of a damage control strategy around his immigration policy. The president had taken a lot of heat for detaining undocumented immigrants seeking asylum and separating families from their children. He hoped to show the "other side" of the issue by publicly sharing stories of those who had been murdered by illegal immigrants.

Unfortunately, the event was poorly received by many, as the president made a few socially awkward comments and gestures at the event. Most noted among these was the moment he compared the portrait of Ronald da Silva to actor Tom Selleck in front of his mother.

"This is..." he began in a serious tone, "Tom Selleck. Except better looking. Right? Better looking," Trump said, holding da Silva's picture. After a short pause, there was laughter among the families and politicians onstage.

While viewers found the moment intensely awkward, da Silva's mother, Agnes Gibboney, said that she did not. In a video published by TMZ, she asked those calling the moment uncomfortable to stop speaking for her.

"Mr. Trump had made that comment along with many many people before," she said. "I took it as a total compliment. I even nodded my head, and I laughed just like everybody else did. And I didn't take offense in anyway, what Donald Trump said about Ronald."

Gibboney went on to say that her son was often compared to Selleck, both before and after his passing.

"I hear it all the time, ever since people have been seeing Ronald's picture, that is the one comment I get. They say 'oh my gosh! He looks like Tom Selleck!' It was not an inappropriate time. Why don't you ask the person who it was being done to, to find out if it was inappropriate to them?"

Gibboney lashed out at the media, which she felt had sullied an otherwise pleasant moment. She took particular aim at TMZ themselves.

"If you think about it, TMZ does this all the time," she said. "'So-and-so looks like so-and-so.' Nobody takes offense in that, I didn't take offense in that, at all."

Gibboney continued her denouncement of the outlet later on Twitter.

"TMZ unfortunately just wanted to take a jab at President Trump at the expense of a victim," she wrote. "It is so interesting that TMZ edited my comment. I also said: 'TMZ took this opportunity to take a jab at the president,' and that their comment 'dead guy' was hurtful to me and my daughters.'"

As for her own politics, Gibboney said she aligned with president Trump's views on the issue of immigration, even calling for the building of his signature border wall.

"As a legal immigrant myself, I think we need to enforce our immigration laws, and we need to protect our country."

The president was also called out for signing the photos of the murder victims at Friday's event, an act that signified narcissism and insensitivity to viewers.

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