Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Presidential Historian Compiles the Ways Other Presidents Have Reacted to National Tragedies, and It Says Everything About Trump

Presidential Historian Compiles the Ways Other Presidents Have Reacted to National Tragedies, and It Says Everything About Trump
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 07: President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press before departing from the White House en route to Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas on August 7, 2019 in Washington, DC. Trump is will visit the two cities to meet with victims and law enforcement following a pair of deadly shooting attacks last weekend. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

How far we've fallen.

The nation is still in mourning after two mass shootings in one weekend resulted in the deaths of 31 people in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

President Donald Trump visited victims, first responders, and law enforcement in the cities on Wednesday. According to the president's social media director, Dan Scavino, Trump was treated like a "rock star" on his visit to Dayton.


In between tweets of photos smiling with hospital workers, Trump lashed out at former Vice President Joe Biden, Senators Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Fox News host Shepard Smith, the "failing New York Times," "Fake news CNN," the "lamestream media," Ohio senator Sherrod Brown (D) and Mayor of Dayton Nan Whaley.

In other words, Trump saw no need to rise above his usual divisive rhetoric during a moment of national grief.

While this seems standard now, presidential historian David Priess reminded his Twitter followers of a time when it wasn't; a time when even presidents whose policies and viewpoints were flawed or downright harmful could still find ways to comfort the nation in some way.

He recounted the reactions from the darkest moments in American history, from the bloodshed at Gettysburg...

...to the Challenger explosion.

And onward.

He concluded with this:

Many Americans feel the divide has instead deepened in the wake of a deadly weekend. Much of it due to Trump's seeming self-absorption contrasted by the words of better men.

They thanked Priess, however, for reminding them of better times.

For his part, Trump spoke to emergency workers in El Paso about the crowd size of a rally he held there last year, dismissing the crowd size of former El Paso Congressman and current presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's counter-rally.

Though press wasn't allowed in the hospital where Trump visited victims, his team ended up making an elaborate campaign video featuring the visits.

More from People/donald-trump

Bob Costas
Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images

Legendary Broadcaster Bob Costas Rips Mainstream Media For Caving To Trump In Powerful Speech

While accepting the Fred Dressler Leadership Award from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications on Monday, legendary broadcaster Bob Costas took aim at the mainstream media, saying news outlets are guilty of "bothsidesing" President Donald Trump despite the very real threat he poses to the country's democratic order.

Specifically calling out coverage of Trump by ABC, CBS, and CNN, Costas noted that both "the free press" and "democracy" are "under attack."

Keep ReadingShow less
Katy Perry performing for “The Lifetimes Tour” in Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Images

Katy Perry shocked by fan

Katy Perry had an uncomfortable moment when an enthusiastic fan rushed the stage mid-song last Monday in Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

The Lifetimes Tour, Perry’s fifth, began in April in Mexico City and will end in December at Etihad Park in Dubai. The concert is set in a video game world where Perry brings the audience onto the level of her greatest hits, including “Dark Horse,” “I Kissed a Girl,” and “Roar.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Gavin Newsom; Emperor Palpatine; Donald Trump
Kimberly White/Getty Images for World; Disney/Lucasfilm; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Newsom Just Trolled Trump Hard With Video Of Emperor Palpatine's Voice Reciting Truth Social Post

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has responded to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's multiple Truth Social posts promoting his decision to take military action in Los Angeles to suppress protests against the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

Governor Newsom neither requested nor consented to Trump's use of the California National Guard for his attacks on L.A. protesters, nor to his deployment of United States Marines to the area.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @elise_carlin's TikTok video
@elise_carlin/TikTok

Woman Weirded Out After Uber Driver Starts Playing AI Songs With Her Name Inserted

Whether we like it or not, AI is living among us and surely won't be departing anytime soon. That said, its uses and ubiquity can still be surprising at times.

TikToker Elise Carlin hopped into an Uber on the way to the airport, and the driver played music, which is pretty par for the course. But she soon realized this wasn't just any music! No, this was AI-generated, and each song was personalized with her name inserted into it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Aquilino Gonell
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

Capitol Officer Who Witnessed Jan. 6 Insurrection Goes Viral With Tweet About LA Protests

Staff Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who lived through the January 6 insurrection and later testified before Congress, criticized President Donald Trump's demand to "bring in the troops" amid ongoing protests in Los Angeles against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's immigration raids.

Gonell testified after the attack that he and his fellow officers "were punched, pushed, kicked, shoved, sprayed with chemical irritants and even blinded with eye-damaging lasers by a violent mob who apparently saw us law enforcement officers, dedicated to ironically protecting them as U.S. citizens, as an impediment in their attempted insurrection."

Keep ReadingShow less