Donald Trump has been criticised for smiling and giving a thumbs up while posing with a baby whose parents died in the El Paso mass shooting.
The two-month-old infant, named Paul, survived the
shooting when his mother, Jordan Anchondo, fell onto him to shield him from the bullets.
His father, Andre, was initially listed as missing until it was confirmed that he was also one of the 22 people who died in the shooting.
Baby Paul was brought to meet the president and his wife Melania as they visited a University Medical Center in El Paso. But the picture has attracted attention for the wrong reasons. I am genuinely confused and horrified by this image. Am I taking this the wrong way?Why is Trump and Melania posing, GRINNING, and giving a thumbs up with the infant who’s parents were murdered by the shooter in El Paso.Seriously… WTH is going on? pic.twitter.com/0YA2hIQeP3— Bryan William Jones (@BWJones) August 9, 2019Sharing the picture, one person wrote: “I am genuinely confused and horrified by this image. Am I taking this the wrong way?
“Why is Trump and Melania posing, GRINNING, and giving a thumbs up with the infant who’s parents were murdered by the shooter in El Paso. Seriously… WTH is going on?”
Others soon shared similar sentiments, with another
Twitter user comparing Trump’s actions to those of Jacinda Ardern, who was praised for showing empathy towards those affected by a mass shooting in Christchurch earlier this year. His photo shoot was really disturbing, no empathy and humanity in him or his wife (and definitely none in people who arrange thess stuff). Compare it to what our PM did after the shooting in Christchurch.— Ali R Nazmi (@FreeLantern) August 9, 2019This baby's parents were just murdered by a psychopath who was incited by Trump's xenophobia.I'm not sure I've even been as angry as I am right now. This photo op is disgusting. And Melania can f ck all the way off. pic.twitter.com/RUgsP6Z6op— Jamie O'Grady 🤔 (@JamieOGrady) August 9, 2019No. You're not wrong. This is not how a normal human being would interact with a baby that just lost his parents due to your own inaction. You would hold him and cry. Or at least keep the cameras away while you contemplate.— Brynn Tannehill (@BrynnTannehill) August 9, 2019This is a photo of Trump grinning while Melania holds a baby orphaned by the shooting. A baby who was taken from home and forced to serve as a prop at a photo-op for the very monster whose hate killed her/his parents.I would need 280,000 characters to say how furious I am. pic.twitter.com/4umSc9BQHu— Greg Pinelo (@gregpinelo) August 9, 2019The photograph was one of a selection of pictures shared on Melania’s Twitter account.
Eight people who survived the shooting are still being treated at the medical centre but they all refused to meet the president, the
Washington Post reported.
This isn’t the first time Trump has struck a jovial pose next to people affected by tragedy.
In February last year, he grinned at the bedside of a teenager who had survived the
Parkland school shooting. Our entire Nation, w/one heavy heart, continues to pray for the victims & their families in Parkland, FL. To teachers, law enforcement, first responders & medical professionals who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We THANK YOU for your courage! https://t.co/3yJsrebZMGpic.twitter.com/ti791dENTy— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018He also gave a thumbs up to North Korean dictator
Kim Jong Un, as they met to discuss the country’s
nuclear weapons programme at a summit in Singapore.In the wake of the El Paso shooting, Trump’s critics have questioned the role his rhetoric played in motivating the shooter.
Democrat Senator Kamala Harris said: “We have a president of the
United States who has chosen to use his words in a way that have been about selling hate and division among us.”
Bernie Sanders wrote on on Twitter that the president has created “a climate which emboldens violent extremists” and demanded on
CNN that he “stop that racism and that xenophobia immediately.”READ MORE...
Donald Trump Ran
Facebook Ads Decrying An Immigrant 'Invasion' El Paso Was The Latest Target Of A Deadly, Global White Supremacist Movement How Should The Media Report On Far-Right Terrorism?