Sarah Sets WaPo Straight for Trump Hit Job Published After Shooting
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders took The Washington Post to task after the newspaper published a mean-spirited jab at President Donald Trump in the wake of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, was in Florida visiting victims of the shooting and their families on Feb. 16, just two days after the Feb. 14 attack that left 17 people dead.
He tweeted about his visit, praising first responders, police, and others who aided victims and their families during and after the crime.
Our entire Nation, w/one heavy heart, continues to pray for the victims & their families in Parkland, FL. To teachers, law enforcement, first responders & medical professionals who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We THANK YOU for your courage! https://t.co/3yJsrebZMG pic.twitter.com/ti791dENTy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018
The Washington Post’s White House Bureau Chief, Philip Rucker, wrote a rather nasty article about Trump’s visit.
Rucker sniped, “President Trump, as he often does while responding to natural disasters, mass shootings or unfolding crises, spent much of his time congratulating the responders instead of memorializing the victims of Wednesday’s school shooting during a visit here Friday.”
When publicizing his article on Twitter, Rucker called the president the “congratulator in chief,” a reference to the praise Trump heaped upon the various first responders, police, and teachers during his visit.
Very nice @jdawsey1 dispatch on Trump at Florida hospital — not as comforter in chief, but as congratulator in chief. Keep reading to the end. https://t.co/ZVW93zIjH1
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 17, 2018
As is typical of WaPo, rather than describing the situation as what it was — Trump’s attempt to praise feats of remarkable bravery by those involved in the tragedy — the writer chose to interpret the president’s comments in the very worst possible light and portray them as Trump trying to stroke his own ego.
Rucker even included a snide insinuation that Trump was lying about visiting victims of the shooting despite actual pictorial evidence to the contrary in Trump’s tweet: “Trump said he saw victims at the hospital — he was not seen doing so — and even described one woman who suffered bullets to her lungs.”
Sanders, in a tweet of her own, speedily corrected the misleading statement.
Actually @PhilipRucker it’s not very nice, but it is very misleading. @POTUS spent private time w/ victims of the shooting & their families. Out of respect for them he didn’t bring media into their hospital rooms but don’t let the truth get in the way of your anti-Trump narrative https://t.co/APx9ZSbpEh
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) February 17, 2018
Apparently WaPo would prefer that that Trump allow the media to invade the hospital rooms of traumatized shooting victims instead of respecting their privacy.
Thank goodness President Trump does not agree — and that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has his back.
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