In the wake of the horrific Florida school shooting that claimed the lives of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, President Donald Trump tweeted this:
For Lori Alhadeff, the grief-striken mother of 14-year-old Alyssa who died in the massacre, the empty platitude is inadequate from a man who has spent his brief political career cosying up to the National Rifle Association.
On Wednesday morning Lori was kissing her daughter on the forehead. She was making sure Alyssa got to school on time, that she had packed her lunchbox in her school bag, or had enough money for the bus.
Today she’s organising her funeral.
“President Trump, you say ‘what can you do’, you can stop the guns from getting into these children’s hands,” the mother shouted into CNN’s news camera overnight, her voice shaking with rage and despair.
Watch the video of the on-air plea to Donald Trump below:
“What can you do? You can do a lot.
“This is not fair to our families that our children go to school and have to get killed.
“Do something. Action. We need it now. These kids need safety now.”
LISTEN: Mia Freedman and Amelia Lester discuss Rob Porter’s domestic abuse, how Trump’s involved, and why Hope Hicks is suddenly in the spotlight, on this week’s ep of our Trump pod. Post continues.
President Trump is, after all, the same man who delivered the keynote speech at last year’s NRA convention; the first president to do so since Ronald Reagan. This is the leader who signed a bill in February 2017 to allow mentally ill individuals to purchase guns, reversing the executive order Barack Obama initiated after the San Bernardino shootings in 2015.
So, no, for the mothers like Lori, who will walk past their children’s empty bedrooms tonight, President Trump’s “condolences” just don’t cut it.
For more on the Florida school shooting, read Mamamia’s profile on the gunman here.
Top Comments
I can't imagine him actually feeling anything watching this ( if the estimates of psychologists are to be believed )......However, Shaming the NRA through satire might be a start - and Hollywood can actually help here.........Satirists like John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Colbert & Sat Night Live can really help with this too of course.
The demise of Trump & Pence will hopefully have a snowball effect in flattening the appeal for puffed-up, arrogant, self-righteous, swaggering, "good 'ol boys" with a "fan-boy" obsession for power & firearms.
The tide may be turning - sadly it's taking the deaths of innocent kids to make it happen...........................xxx's
Read any comment thread that discusses tightening gun laws and you’ll find a bunch of Americans telling you that gun control won’t work. They don’t want it. They’re so obsessed with guns. They’ve lost the plot. With their stupid obsession with guns and a
president who wants to waste billions of dollars on a freaking wall, America is a mess.
They are basically fucked in the head and care more for the second amendment than they do for their children