The White House admits that they used the Parkland school shooting as an excuse to cancel press briefings and a distraction away from the Rob Porter scandal.
Press staffers cited the tragedy as a reason to cancel on-camera briefings for the remainder of the week, allowing them to avoid questions about the swirling controversies. The White House could hold its next briefing Tuesday, a full week after press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last faced reporters.
“For everyone, it was a distraction or a reprieve,†said one White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect internal conversations. “A lot of people here felt like it was a reprieve from seven or eight days of just getting pummeled.â€
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An administration has to be historically incompetent to look at a mass shooting as a reprieve
For any other president, a school shooting would be a defining moment of grief and crisis. For Trump, it is a break from the scandal that he caused by hiring a serial wife beater for a high-level White House position. The grieving people of Parkland, Florida don’t view the shootings as a reprieve. There will be no reprieve from the pain for parents who lost their children or family members who lost their loved ones.
The problem with Trump and his entire administration is that they don’t see people. Trump is incapable of relating to the suffering and tragedy caused by a mass shooting. His White House views the shooting as a way to get the heat off of themselves. It’s one thing for a president to be inept. The nation has seen and lived through that before, but to view dead children as a reprieve is heartless beyond words.
The Trump White House is worse than incompetent. It is cynical and sick
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
