A backlash is building over a picture posted by Melania Trump on Twitter that showed her and Donald Trump smiling broadly while holding a baby who was orphaned in the mass shooting in El Paso.
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On a visit to El Paso this week, the president flashed a thumbs-up when posing with the two-month-old, whose parents Andre and Jordan Anchondo were shot dead last Saturday. When the picture was posted on the first lady’s Twitter account on Thursday, it prompted outrage.
On a hospital visit in El Paso, Trump then reignited a dispute with 2020 Democratic contender and former local congressman Beto O’Rourke over crowd sizes, before getting into a Twitter row with the Dayton mayor, Nan Whaley.
Greg Pinelo
(@gregpinelo)
This is a photo of Trump grinning while Melania holds a baby orphaned by the shooting. A baby who was taken from home and forced to serve as a prop at a photo-op for the very monster whose hate killed her/his parents.
I would need 280,000 characters to say how furious I am. pic.twitter.com/4umSc9BQHu
August 9, 2019
The orphaned child, named Paul, had been brought back to the hospital – reportedly at the request of White House during the visit by the Trumps on Wednesday. The baby’s uncle, standing next to Donald Trump, is reportedly a Trump supporter, as was the deceased father.
The baby was injured, breaking his fingers, in the shooting, after his mother died trying to protect him and her body fell on him. His father had dived to try to shield her as bullets flew.
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Speaking to NPR, the uncle, Tito Anchondo, said: “I think people are misconstruing President Trump’s ideas. My brother was very supportive of Trump.”
But condemnation of the picture – which was circulated by Melania Trump and not the family – was swift. White House aides had not allowed media into the hospital during the visit, saying it was “not a photo op”.
The president did not meet any of the eight survivors still recovering in hospital. Three were unable because they are in too poor a condition, or do not speak English, according to the hospital. Five declined the offer.
Bryan William Jones
(@BWJones)
I am genuinely confused and horrified by this image. Am I taking this the wrong way?
Why is Trump and Melania posing, GRINNING, and giving a thumbs up with the infant who’s parents were murdered by the shooter in El Paso.
Seriously… WTH is going on? pic.twitter.com/0YA2hIQeP3
August 9, 2019
Doctors at the Del Sol medical center in El Paso, where some of the survivors are still being treated, later said the president appeared to “lack empathy” after he boasted during the visit that he drew a larger crowd at a January rally in the city than one held by “crazy” Beto O’Rourke.
O’Rourke had earlier said he did not want Trump to come to El Paso, after linking Trump’s long record of anti-immigrant rhetoric to the manifesto posted by suspect Patrick Crusius shortly before the shooting began.
Trump subsequently lashed at out at O’Rourke, mocking his name and polling numbers and ordering him to “be quiet”.
Trump also visited Dayton, Ohio, where nine people died in a separate attack. He later tweeted that Mayor Whaley and the Ohio senator Sherrod Brown had “misrepresented” his visit.
He tweeted that the pair had been “totally misrepresenting what took place inside of the hospital. Their news conference after I left for El Paso was a fraud. It bore no resemblance to what took place with those incredible people that I was so lucky to meet and spend time with. They were all amazing.”
By Friday, Trump’s own aides appeared to concede that his twin visits did not go as planned.
According to CNN, Trump lashed out at his aides for keeping the cameras away from him, and complained that he wasn’t receiving enough credit after officials blocked reporters and their cameras from entering the two hospitals. White House staff later put out a promotional video of the visits.
• This article was amended on Friday 9 August to remove a quote mistakenly attributed to Donald Trump.
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