Trump: All El Paso shooting patients being treated at hospital 'refused to meet with president'
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Trump: All El Paso shooting patients being treated at hospital 'refused to meet with president'
Tom Embury-Dennis, The Independent 2 hours 0 minutes ago
Every El Paso mass shooting patient being treated at a local hospital refused to meet with Donald Trump when he visited, a spokesperson for the facility has said.
The US president on Wednesday travelled to both the Texas city and Dayton, Ohio, to meet with victims and first responders following two mass shootings over the weekend which left 31 people dead and dozens injured.
But following Mr Trump's departure from University Medical Center (UMC), where he met two victims already discharged by the hospital, UMC spokesperson Ryan Mielke revealed the eight patients still being treated there did not agree to meet the US leader.
"This is a very sensitive time in their lives," Mr Mielke told The Washington Post . "Some of them said they didn't want to meet with the president. Some of them didn't want any visitors."
The newspaper reported some of the victims did, however, meet a number of locally elected officials, including Democratic congresswoman Veronica Escobar.
Mr Trump’s arrival in El Paso was met with opposition by some of the city’s elected officials and thousands of its residents, who have accused the 73-year-old of using inflammatory rhetoric and encouraging white supremacy - a racist ideology allegedly espoused by the gunman who attacked shoppers at a local Walmart.
Beto O’Rourke, a Democratic 2020 presidential contender and El Paso native who has denounced Mr Trump as a racist instigator, said the president had “helped create the hatred that made Saturday’s tragedy possible” and thus “has no place here”.
Protesters booed Mr Trump as he and the first lady were driven to meet the survivors and first responders at the hospital, outnumbering the president’s supporters who cheered his motorcade.
Mr Trump was, however, praised by Sherrod Brown, a Democratic senator for Ohio, who said the president was “comforting” and “did the right things” during his meeting with Dayton shooting victims.
Despite being cast by some as the “consoler-in-chief”, Mr Trump used his flight time on the way back to the White House to attack his critics and boast on Twitter about how shooting victims had shown him “love, respect & enthusiasm”.
“Leaving El Paso for the White House. What GREAT people I met there and in Dayton, Ohio,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“The Fake News worked overtime trying to disparage me and the two trips, but it just didn’t work. The love, respect & enthusiasm were there for all to see. They have been through so much. Sad!”
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"This is a very sensitive time in their lives," Mr Mielke told The Washington Post . "Some of them said they didn't want to meet with the president. Some of them didn't want any visitors."
The newspaper reported some of the victims did, however, meet a number of locally elected officials, including Democratic congresswoman Veronica Escobar.
Mr Trump’s arrival in El Paso was met with opposition by some of the city’s elected officials and thousands of its residents, who have accused the 73-year-old of using inflammatory rhetoric and encouraging white supremacy - a racist ideology allegedly espoused by the gunman who attacked shoppers at a local Walmart.
Protesters booed Mr Trump as he and the first lady were driven to meet the survivors and first responders at the hospital, outnumbering the president’s supporters who cheered his motorcade.
Mr Trump was, however, praised by Sherrod Brown, a Democratic senator for Ohio, who said the president was “comforting” and “did the right things” during his meeting with Dayton shooting victims.
Despite being cast by some as the “consoler-in-chief”, Mr Trump used his flight time on the way back to the White House to attack his critics and boast on Twitter about how shooting victims had shown him “love, respect & enthusiasm”.
Trump news: President heads to El Paso after attacking Dayton mayor and being met with protests in Ohio
Donald Trump visited El Paso, Texas , and Dayton, Ohio , on Wednesday to pay his respects and meet with first responders following mass shootings in both communities over the weekend that left 31 dead.
As the president served his role of consoler-in-chief, he encountered a sometimes hostile reception, and went on the offensive against his critics in spite of the solemn nature of his duties.
"We had an amazing day, as you know we left Ohio and there was a lot of love, and a lot of respect," Mr Trump said in El Paso after meeting with first responders, doctors, nurses and survivors.
"There are a lot of heroes. A lot of heroes, and a lot of people who are just incredible," Mr Trump said in Texas.
Mr Trump had attacked 2020 contender Beto O’Rourke late on Tuesday night, telling him to “be quiet” after the candidate said his racist rhetoric was responsible for the massacre at a Wal-Mart in his hometown of El Paso.
Mr O’Rourke, whose hometown is El Paso, responded: “22 people in my hometown are dead after an act of terror inspired by your racism. El Paso will not be quiet and neither will I.”
Meanwhile, in Ohio, Dayton mayor Nan Whaley also criticised Mr Trump saying “he’s made this bed and he’s gotta lie in it” while the state’s Republican governor Mike DeWine called for expanded gun laws to stop further outbreaks of violence. Protests are widely expected in both cities.
Shortly after Mr Trump's visit to Dayton, Ms Whaley signalled that Mr Trump had been respectful during his meetings with first responders and victims in her city, but called on him to pass gun control measures alongside senator Sherrod Brown.
Mr Trump later attacked Ms Whaley and Mr Brown, saying they had misrepresented their conversations.
What a narcissistic jackass.
Maybe he thinks the boos and refusals to see him were actually complimentary to him?
Maybe his internal narcissistic monologue is so loud that he he can't actually see or hear what is actually going on around him?
Maybe he thought he was in Toledo?
I wouldn't meet with that disgrace either. It was his big fat mouth and the bullshit he spews forth that created some of these deporable dumb fucks to act this way.
I would have met with him as long as cameras were going to be rolling. If asked I would have told his handlers "I'd love to meet the President! Make America Great Again!" and then they would rush off to set up the meet thinking it was going to be a "friendly" photo op with one of the victims. Once cameras were rolling I'd calmly, with a smile, tell the President that it was his incendiary words like "invasion" and "infestation" and his calling Mexicans "rapists" that directly led to this enraged shooter driving hundreds of miles to a border town to massacre some Mexican Americans of which 85% of El Paso are.
They probably know the shooter used "invasion" the same way Trump did, and vice versa.
That's what he said at his last rally 'I have nothing to do' which is quite obvious.
I noticed there was one photo op with this poor little girl survivor surrounded by that shitstain and about a dozen people.
The poor little girl must have been scared to death. She didn't look very happy to me.
Typical disingenuous response from the progressive liberal left. Those poor victims from El Paso and Dayton have been through Hell and I can say if I was in their place, I would not be wanting to meet with officials either, the president included. But because it was Trump whom the left dislikes so much, it was so much easier to twist and spin it into giving the impression that they did want to meet with the president solely based on that it was Trump! Highly laughable and pathetic....
I would have liked to meet the First Lady but would have told that useless wart of a husband to F Off.