Trump Slammed for Using School Shooting to Condemn Gender-Affirming Surgery at Wisconsin Rally

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of gun violence that some readers may find distressing.

In a recent Wisconsin rally, former President Donald Trump made some remarks that were hard to digest for people. The entire nation is dealing with another school tragedy but Trump had his own share of opinion on this that mismatched with what listeners were expecting. He talked about made-up school surgeries where he should've been talking about his gun violence stance. Trump addressed the crowd with a hypothetical scenario saying, "Can you imagine you're a parent, and your son leaves the house and you say, 'Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school', and your son comes back with a brutal operation?" He then added, "Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?"

Recently, Georgia saw a school shooting that left four people dead, including two students and two teachers. Trump's reaction to this is getting highly condemned and people are saying his words are very insensitive. Trump's campaign failed to back up the convicted felon's claim when asked by CNN to provide just one example of a child being sent to a school for surgery without parental consent. Even co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice, who recently held a conversation with Trump, said, "Are kids getting surgery in school? No they're not," as per The Indy 100. 

This stance of Trump on the harsh reality of school shootings has not gone unnoticed by the crowd. Social media users talked about his lack of evidence on school surgery statements and his way of neglecting the topic of gun violence. But this isn't the first time Trump has faced criticism for his response to school shootings. There was another incident of shooting on school premises that took place in January this year, on which Trump's statement of "get over it" got high criticism.

Trump's running mate, JD Vance, has also drawn criticism for his comments on school shootings. At a campaign rally in Arizona, Vance said: "I don't like this. I don't like to admit this. I don't like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets." Vance's remarks were quickly seized upon by the Harris campaign, as per The Guardian.

Vice President Kamala Harris responded to this situation as well by saying, "School shootings are not just a fact of life. It doesn't have to be this way. We can take action to protect our children – and we will." The Harris campaign took no time in slamming Trump and Vance's reaction on gun policy. Campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement: "Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know we can take action to keep our children safe and keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Donald Trump and JD Vance will always choose the NRA [National Rifle Association] and gun lobby over our children. That is the choice in this election."

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