US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, 21 February, set aside politics to hold a listening session with the survivors of the Florida high school shooting, that left over 17 students dead.
Trump, at the meeting, seemingly had crib notes to help him handle the barrage of questions that he was bound to encounter from the grieving parents.
A photo by AP, zoomed in on the notes, shows the listed pointers as-
1) What would you most want me to know about your experience?
2) What can we do to help you feel safe?
While the third and fourth points are obscured by Trump's hands, the fifth, and final point says:
5) I hear you.
While many leaders often use crib notes to help pivot their debates and speeches, Trump's need for a reminder to appear empathetic earned him tremendous backlash.
Business Insider noted that Trump's cue card was most likely useful as the parents and students attending the gathering certainly 'didn't hold back'.
Andrew Pollack, whose teenage daughter, Meadow, was killed in the Florida shooting, stood flanked by his sons, Huck and Hunter, in the White House's ornate State Dining Room, as his voice grew louder.
"It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it!" he said, as the room sat in silence. "And I'm pissed! Because my daughter, I'm not going to see again.... King David Cemetery, that's where I go to see my kid now."
Pollack railed against the fact that he can't get onto an airplane with a bottle of water but an "animal can walk into a school and kill our children".
Largely concentrating on 'listening', Trump at the meeting promised to be "very strong on background checks". And he suggested he supported allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons to be ready for intruders.
(With inputs from AP.)
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