It’s not uncommon for presidents to express condolences after a mass shooting in America, but it’s certainly unusual for them to forget the city in which it occurred.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday night after the shooting at the Rancho Tehema Elementary School in northern California. But instead of acknowledging the tragedy there, he name-checked the one in Sutherland Springs, Texas, which took place Nov. 5.
In a now-deleted tweet that remained on his timeline through early Wednesday morning, Trump wrote: “May God be with the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI and Law Enforcement has arrived.”
Predictably, the gaffe caused outrage on Twitter, with followers and opponents questioning if Trump had just cut and pasted his sympathies to people. They also chided his poor grammar.
The President of the United States is tweeting at midnight about the wrong mass shooting and it's like the 500th most insane Trump story of the week.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) November 15, 2017
Trump just tweeted again about the church shooting in Sutherland Springs. The 1st tweet was the day of the event, 9 days ago. Is this his shooting tweet template? He forgot to change the location to today's shooting: California. pic.twitter.com/IToC7UXkyP
— Shannon Ritenour (@ShannonRitenour) November 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/vbosch/status/930659624092549120
This tweet was sent 2 hours ago.
The shooting in Sutherland Springs happened on November 5th, which was 9 days ago.I hope the FBI and law enforcement didn’t take that long to arrive. https://t.co/8bYtCg0iuO
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) November 15, 2017
As of 9 a.m. ET this morning, Trump had still not commented on social media about the California shooting. He did, however, promote an upcoming feature on Fox & Friends about his recent trip to Asia.
