Trump seems incapable of expressing genuine sympathy for the victims and survivors of the Parkland shooting — or standing up to his NRA masters.
After the NRA's spokeswoman was jeered, booed, and mocked during a nationally televised town hall meeting on gun control Wednesday night, Trump rushed to the gun group's aid Thursday morning.
Showering the NRA with praise, and calling its leaders "Great American Patriots," Trump displayed more sympathy for gun lobbyists than he has for the survivors and the victims of mass murder in Parkland, Florida.
What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
After initially going into hiding following the massacre at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School, which claimed 17 lives, Trump emerged on Twitter to lash out at the grieving community.
"So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior," he wrote. "Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!"
At a White House listening session with Parkland survivors Wednesday, Trump needed a cheat sheet to help remember to convey sympathy for the community.
The next morning, he was bowing down to the NRA, which spent at least $55 million during the 2016 election cycle, with some insiders suggesting the figure was closer to $70 million.
"Even the reported figures show that the group doubled down, literally, on its previous spending in a presidential election cycle. The $55 million is more than twice the $22 million the NRA spent overall in 2012 and more than four times what it spent in 2008 and 2004, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics," McClatchy reported.
Additionally, the FBI is reportedly investigating whether Russian operatives funneled millions of dollars to the group in 2016.
The NRA has completely dictated Trump's radical gun agenda.
Last year, Trump’s Justice Department purged tens of thousands of people who had previously been labeled fugitives from the FBI’s background check system.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are trying to make it easier for consumers to buy silencers for their guns. And last year, they voted for a radical, NRA-sanctioned and Trump-approved bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons across any state line, even if local state law forbids carrying concealed guns.
Meanwhile, the White House’s latest so-called budget proposal cuts millions of dollars from the country’s background check system.
Last December, in a craven display of collective indifference, Trump hosted NRA boss Wayne LaPierre at the White House on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School gun massacre.
Now following the Parkland mass murder, Trump's again showing that his love of the NRA take precedence over concern for the fallen.
