Today, President Trump held a listening session with the survivors and families of victims of gun violence. The event was held at the White House, and those invited were asked to weigh in on the mass shooting epidemic and propose solutions. It was precipitated by the heartbreaking shooting last week at Stoneman Douglas High School.
During the proceedings, Trump brought up the absurd idea that the best way to prevent school shootings is to arm teachers. Republicans are willing to invent the most absurd “solutions” to this growing problem as long as it allows them to avoid talking about the real problem: guns.
Trump: "If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly, and the good thing about a suggestion like that — and we're going to be looking at it very strongly…but the good thing is you'll have a lot of [armed] people with that." pic.twitter.com/wGRSTDK38o
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 21, 2018
David Mack of Buzzfeed shared a photograph of Trump from the event that shows him clutching a cheat sheet with things he should say to the attendees. The list of responses includes such gems as:
“What would you most want me to know about your experience?”
“What can we do to make you feel safe?”
“I hear you,” reads the last sentence visible.
It’s absolutely stunning and yet paradoxically not surprising that our president needs a written guide on how to communicate and feign empathy with the victims of horrific tragedies.
So deep is his narcissism that he can’t relate to people on his own, and had to come overly prepared in order to do his best impression of a compassionate leader.
Trump's crib notes during the WH gun violence listening session: "5. I hear you" pic.twitter.com/XRI0X78b5U
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 21, 2018
Photo by Carolyn Kaster of AP
— David Mack (@davidmackau) February 21, 2018
After the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida mass shooting last week during which seventeen people were killed and fifteen wounded when a young man entered the school and opened fire with an AR-15 style rifle, the surviving students are speaking out and advocating for gun reform.
They are planning a massive march on March 24 to demand gun control and challenge the NRA’s stranglehold on the Republican Party.
Here’s the speech from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez at an anti-gun rally happening today in Fort Lauderdale https://t.co/CyfMnPDAvW // https://t.co/hgewZy4Cxf https://t.co/gssAmGczuH
— Joshua Chavers (@JoshuaChavers) February 17, 2018
David Hogg, the Florida school shooting survivor who called on lawmakers to "take some action" on guns yesterday, responds to Sen. Marco Rubio saying gun laws won't stop shootings: "I absolutely disagree … I say we implement whatever programs we can" https://t.co/hF26jAP9NA pic.twitter.com/L3gpViIFDa
— CNN (@CNN) February 16, 2018
Massacres like this have become a fixture of American life, and it’s far past time Congress take action to prevent the murders of more children. That said, if our president isn’t even capable of talking to survivors without notes to walk him through the simplest interactions, it seems unlikely he will be able to solve such a prominent problem.