Donald Trump has never been known for his impeccable timing. Take, for example, his penchant for starting new physical relationships with women before ending his previous physical relationships with other women. Or his decision to wait hours after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was in full televised swing before suggesting that the participants should go on home and maybe take a nap.
Today, we add a new entry to the “Seriously? Now?” section of the Trump Files: One day after a gunman shot four people, one of them fatally, at the Cielo Vista shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, Trump encouraged his Truth Social acolytes to show support for the NRA:
“Everybody has to step up and support the National Rifle Association (NRA) against the ‘Racist In Reverse’ New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, who is fighting with every ounce of her strength, which shouldn’t be much, to destroy the NRA, and the Republican Party along with it. Her ‘Office’ is consumed with the NRA (and me), with massive amounts of time, money, and effort devoted to this as opposed to stopping the record setting VIOLENT and other crimes in New York State!!!”
Now, it’s possible that Trump meant to express his sorrow for all those directly affected by the El Paso shooting — or by the shooting that took place just days earlier at Michigan State University, which left three students dead and five others wounded — or by any of the six mass shootings that took place in California in the single month of January 2023.
He also may have meant to ask his followers to support common-sense gun laws, such as requiring background checks on all gun sales, holding gun owners accountable for the safe storage of their firearms, and instituting a three-day waiting period between when a gun is bought and when it can be taken home.
It’s eminently more likely, however, that Trump is just taking this latest opportunity to lash out at New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Black woman who Trump, smack dab in the middle of Black History Month, just referred to as a “Racist in Reverse.” James has been a frequent target of Trump’s poorly written posts ever since she filed a lawsuit in September against the former president, members of his family, and the Trump Organization, for widespread fraud. Depending on the outcome of the case, Trump could be ordered to pay $250 million in damages.
Because we know the man is a grift in an ill-fitting suit, we anxiously look forward to sheet-soaking fever dreams about a new installment of Trump trading cards and a really heartwarming GoFundMe campaign.