President Trump is now scheduled to comment on the shooting at 11 a.m. ET at the White House.
Shortly after the incident — in which 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — he tweeted, “My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”
But in a break with how previous Presidents have responded to mass shootings, he’s yet to make a public appearance to address it. And according to White House reporters, Trump has nothing on his public schedule today (Thursday).
The White House has been monitoring the situation closely, and Trump spoke with Florida governor Rick Scott to coordinate police efforts shortly after the shooting. He also tweeted about suspect Nikolas Cruz‘s apparent mental-health problems this morning. (USA Today)
Fasho Thoughts:
- Twitter is where he makes fun of Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and Kim Jong-Un. It’s not the appropriate place for him to address this.
- You never know — he’s held impromptu press conferences before.
- The important thing is that officials in Florida get the help they need, not whether he tweets.
- It’s not like he’s never going to talk about this in a public forum. He’s just letting police and other law enforcement do their jobs.
- Stopping these shootings starts with strong leadership. A little tweet is not strong leadership.
Source: CS / CS
