Trump Shows Kids Assassination Card At Easter Egg Roll

Online commentators reacted to a bizarre moment during the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll when Donald Trump began showing children a card with the Butler assassination attempt. The moment, delivered alive by Getty’s biological Chip Somodevilla, would go viral, evoking reactions from rage to dark humor.

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Trump held up what appeared to be some kind of collectible card showing his head bled and face twisted with offended expressions, during the White House Easter Egg Roll, attempts on his troublesome life. While the card was an unsolicited gift for all the children present, the perplexed looks on lots of those little young guests drew increasing ire. “What a bunch of amoral freaks!” was the opinion of any vernacular photos surfacing online showing one disappointed boy in particular.

Responses on Aaron Rupar’s tweeted account on the episode were all over the place. Some called it odious-given the shooting tragedies in schools-while others mocked it for that very element of theater! Wanda Allard summed this up saying, “‘It can’t be about Jesus; it has to be about him,’ – a thought similar to many other commenters chastising Trump for being self-centered in every event.”

Then came the dark jokes. Writer Brian Whitehorn said: “Goddammit Logan shut up, the bullet really DID hit my ear!!” with laughing-cries emojis. Buckldbuttercup asked, “Why is he such a weirdo? Who does this with children?” and went to call him “ghouliest of all time.”

A suspicious group side-eyeing possible grifting also arose. Many wondered if Trump was almost selling stuff at that time, with Lee sarcastically calling him out to ask if he told kids to “ask mommy and daddy for money so they can have one too, at the low price of $99.99?” The very fact that the card appears to be well professionally graded seemed to fuel this line of jokes.

For some, though, Trump had defenders. Ironically, some wrote, “I love how democrats say he wasn’t even shot, and then act mad when he shows a picture of his face to kids,” said DamonDxb. This triggered mini-debates in the replies to whether or not the photo was proof of the actual shooting.

It seemed strange for many that the Easter-associated occasion, which was supposed to be light-hearted, was able to vest itself unto something grave all of a sudden. Peralandra stated, referring to the incident, “Easter egg roll day gone haywire,” while Teri Sawers commented, “another audaciously shameless moment in American history.” Various permutations to that theme were sprouted with various accounts of Trump putting himself in the center of any occasion; Patrick J. O’Donnell, however, went as far as to call it “kind of genius in a way.”

There was also some critique leveled at how he was supposed to be raising his kids. Ryan’s comment called anyone allowing their child “this close to a convicted felon, racist and rapist,” bad parenting.” Others questioned why kids were wearing campaign gear at what’s supposed to be a non-political White House tradition.

Many observers found the whole scene somewhat disturbing. Elise stated it was “a sad photo”, while Barbara Falck noted one child’s “horrified” expression, wondering whether the card showed “the fake blood on his ear too.” Creep factor came up repeatedly with multiple users calling Trump “hideous” or a “freakshow” in their replies.

Shameful self-mythologizing or just another weird moment on the Trump timeline; the incident had certainly sparked a lot of conversation. It checks off so many classic Trumpian check-boxes: controversy, self-promotion, and that unique mix of discomfort and hilarity that he constantly invokes. Perhaps this card is going to go down as another strange artifact of this era: one addition to an ever-expanding list of Trump memorabilia already including gold sneakers and mugshot merchandise.

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Completely opposite of wishing to be outraged by the display or laughing from its absurdity, what everybody seems to agree upon would be that no other modern politician would do this at a children’s event; for better or worse, this is so very Trump.