There were several deadly terror attacks across the world today – and Trump’s response was to spread fear and ignore the victims.
Today there were terror attacks in Turkey, Switzerland and Germany – and it is only getting worse. The civilized world must change thinking!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2016
Trump, whom some high profile mental health experts believe may have a pathological inability to feel empathy, has repeatedly reacted to human suffering and tragedy with these self-aggrandizing messages meant only to “prove” that he is smarter and tougher than his international counterparts.
And it’s not just foreign victims that Trump steps on during his rush to the spotlight. The people of Orlando learned that the hard way. In the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting, Trump was downright giddy at being “right.”
Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016
Appreciate. The. Congrats.
Nobody seems more aware of the awful way Trump behaves in the midst of a tragedy than his running mate Mike Pence. In a cringeworthy attempt to save Trump from himself, Pence quote-tweeted his boss and added a splash of humility and compassion in with Trump’s rant.
Pence responded to the acts of terror with human emotions, Trump saw an opportunity to grandstand and took it. The contrast is stark.
He also wasn’t fooling anyone. Despite Pence’s efforts to reinterpret Trump’s unhinged response into something bordering on human, he came up short. Trump looks like a monster, and Pence looks like an enabler of a monster.
Mike Pence is rewriting/editing Donald Trump's tweets in real time pic.twitter.com/wwbumQSfb3
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) December 19, 2016
.@mike_pence Thanks for interpreting! Can you also explain to us what Trump meant by "civilized world"?
— Simon Hedlin (@simonhedlin) December 19, 2016
In a reaction that may or may not be related (and very childish if so!), just a few hours later Trump copied and pasted Pence’s message of congrats on his election win – a nice little reminder for Pence that Trump is the guy in charge. (Perhaps also a warning to not try to butt in on Trump’s moment?)
"@mike_pence: Congratulations to @RealDonaldTrump; officially elected President of the United States today by the Electoral College!"
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2016
What does it say about Trump that Mike Pence, a man with a whole closet full of his own moral failings, looks like a humanitarian compared to the next President of the United States? How is that possible?
Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images
