One day before Donald Trump held his campaign rally in Iowa, a teenager opened fire on Perry High School, killing a sixth grader and injuring five others. While addressing the violence on Friday from Sioux Center, Iowa, Trump offered his “deepest sympathies” to the victims, their families, and the community. “To the entire community, we love you, we pray for you, and we ask God to heal and comfort, really, the whole state,” he said.
At the same time, the presidential candidate (who faces multiple indictments) added later with a click of his tongue, they’ll have to “get over it.”
As seen in a video from NBC News, Trump told the crowd, “The pain that you have is very unique to your state. We’re really with you as much as anybody can be. It’s a very terrible thing that happened, and it’s just horrible to see that happening. It’s just horrible. So surprising to see it here.”
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Then came the pivot: “But,” Trump said, “have to get over it (sic). We have to move forward. We have to move forward. But to the relatives, and to all of the people that are so devastated right now, to a point they can’t breathe, they can’t live, we are with you all the way. We’re with you and we love you and cherish you.”
As The Guardian notes, Trump has avoided substantive policy discussions before when it comes to gun violence—like during a speech last April to the National Rifle Association, in which he argued that the United States’ school-shooting epidemic is “not a gun problem” and blamed Democrats, trans people, mental health issues, and marijuana instead.
In the wake of the 2018 Parkland, Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, NBC News reported that Trump had defended his proposal that some teachers should be armed—but only, of course, “highly trained people that have a natural talent [for shooting], like hitting a baseball, or hitting a golf ball, or putting.” Back then, Trump also reportedly espoused his belief that he personally would have “run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon.”
According to the Des Moines Register, Trump spent most of his remaining speaking time on Friday attacking his opponents Joe Biden, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis, as well as his own accomplishments and foreign alliances. That same day, Brandon Weathersby—presidential campaigns communication director for the liberal Super PAC American Bridge 21st Century—responded to Trump’s Perry High School comments in a statement.
“We knew Trump lacked empathy for others, but no one thought he could go this low and tell Iowans to simply ‘get over it’ as they grieve from a situation communities across the country know all too well,” Weathersby wrote. “This is beyond the pale, even for Trump.”
