President Donald Trump Failing to Close Umbrella Baffles Social Media

A viral video is baffling Twitter, showing President Donald Trump leaving his umbrella open as he walked onto Air Force One.

The video comes from the live coverage of the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania yesterday. President Trump made comments on the tragedy outside of Air Force One on Saturday, condemning the gunman while asserting that armed security could have stopped him, or stricter capital punishment could have deterred him. Afterward, the camera followed his path up the stairs to the plane, where he dropped his open umbrella on the ground and left it at the door.

The video elicited an uproar of reactions on social media, ranging from laughter to fury and everywhere in between. Many people guessed or assumed the reason for dropping the umbrella, though most seemed to believe that it was simple laziness or indifference.

“Unbelievable — Trump doesn’t know how to close an umbrella, so [instead] of closing it and bringing it aboard Air Force One with him, he just dropped it outside the plane,” wrote reporter Aaron Rupar.

“Who does this?” he added later.

“I have a special fondness for briefcase guy who understands how demeaning it would be for him to do the thing that obviously needs to be done so he pretends he doesn’t see it,” added actor Andy Daly. “Neato.”

Many people inferred metaphors from the video, implying that the umbrella represented America, or First Lady Melania Trump. The man who stepped past the umbrella, in turn, was taken as a stand-in for the Republican Party as a whole, which Twitter users said is letting the president do whatever he wants.

The video was a welcome distraction from the horrific news of the day. A man entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh with an assault rifle. He killed 11 people and injured six more before turning himself in to police. As many pointed out, the attacker even shot three police during his attack, casting doubt on the president’s assertion that armed security could have stopped him.

The shooting comes on the heels of another domestic terrorism incident that dominated the news all week. A Florida man mailed homemade explosives to prominent Democratic leaders, including former presidents Obama and Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, and others. He also sent one to the CNN office in New York City. The attack raised serious questions about the quality of political rhetoric in the U.S., putting even more focus on the president’s words and actions this weekend.