The head of Twitter called Trump out for his “thoughts and prayers” tweet after the YouTube shooting
On Tuesday, April 3rd, there was yet another shooting in the United States. An active shooting situation took place at YouTube’s headquarters in San Bruno, California. The shooter, a woman who has since been identified as Nasim Najafi Aghdam, shot three people before shooting and killing herself. That same afternoon, President Donald Trump responded to the shooting on Twitter, and many were decidedly less-than-impressed with his remarks…the head of Twitter included.
Trump’s YouTube shooting tweet included the statement, “Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved,” a sentiment many are sick of hearing after so many tragic mass shootings. Users were quick to call Trump out, asking him to take substantive action on gun control, and Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, was one of them.
https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/981287536520847360
We can’t keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it won’t happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. It’s beyond time to evolve our policies. This is a simple and reasonable approach, and it won’t solve all, but it’s a good start: https://t.co/ADYalbaO57 https://t.co/nbXpH9DDyT
— jack (@jack) April 3, 2018
This isn’t the first time Trump has responded to a shooting with simply his “thoughts and prayers.” Many politicians reach for this same sentiment after gun-related tragedies. And, frankly, people are sick of hearing it. On March 24th, thousands of people across the country marched in the March For Our Lives in an attempt to make true change, and — unsurprisingly — these same people also took issues with Trump’s lackluster response.
not everyone believes in god, to some people thoughts and prayers are literally nothing.
— Dallas (@dallassjenkins) April 4, 2018
false
Thoughts and prayers? Again? DO SOMETHING.
— Anne Hamilton (@AnneHamilton01) April 3, 2018
— jc331 (@jcampe331) April 4, 2018
Is this tweet a template you copied and pasted?
— BXBella🗽✈🌴 (@NYCgirl_InFL) April 3, 2018
Details continue to emerge about the YouTube San Bruno shooting, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about what took place. However, we do know that we’re tired of hearing the same canned response from politicians when avoidable gun tragedies occur, and we are beyond ready to change the conversation to “thoughts and actions.“
