Donald Trump Jr. Has Harsh Words For Alec Baldwin Following The Deadly Film Set Shooting
The tragic on-set shooting incident involving Alec Baldwin has stunned the entertainment world and left questions that are still unanswered. Friends, colleagues, and fans have expressed their sympathy at the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and offered support to Baldwin as he comes to terms with his guilt and grief. Julie Bowen of "Modern Family" fame tweeted to him, "My heart goes out to Halyna's family and to you, Alec. No 'bad guy' is needed to be deeply saddened by this tragedy."
At least one famous figure would disagree. Donald Trump Jr. is upholding his father's tradition of peppering his social media accounts with political zingers. When he isn't promoting local and Congressional Republican candidates, he's touting former president Trump's new social media app, TRUTH Social, or mocking prominent liberals. President Joe Biden is, of course, one of Don Jr.'s most frequent targets, but following the shooting on the set of "Rust," the former first son momentarily turned his attention away from Biden and went after Baldwin.
Don Jr. posted three memes about the incident on his Instagram account. The first is a photo of Baldwin looking displeased, with a caption reading, "That look when an anti-gun nut kills more people with a gun than your extensive firearm collection ever has." The second is a pic of Baldwin and his wife Hilaria, with the caption, "How do you say, in English, we're f–d?" (via Instagram). The last has a Photoshopped still of Homer Simpson wearing a sandwich board saying, "Let's all watch Alec Baldwin blame the gun" (via Instagram).
Some conservatives criticized Donald Jr.'s posts
Many of Donald Trump Jr.'s supporters were quick to agree with him. "Yeah the dude is disgusting," wrote one (via Instagram). "Hates on guns and makes money using them in movies. Uses horrible gun safety and murders someone." Another snarked, "I'm marked safe from Alec Baldwin today." Other comments included, "Incompetence and liberalism [seem] to go hand in hand" and "shoulda taught him gun safety instead of gun laws."
All three of Don Jr.'s meme posts sparked lengthy debates about who was responsible for the fatal shooting. Some thought Baldwin was negligent for not checking the gun and for pulling the trigger when there were others nearby. Others countered by saying the props crew, not actors, are the ones responsible for ensuring the safety of firearms. "They have a trained person on staff to do gun checks," said one. "There are protocols and Alec followed them. He didn't break any rules."
However, perhaps the best response to Don Jr.'s jabs was a thoughtful — and bipartisan — opinion. "If we want liberals to have compassion, we should model it," said the writer. "Don't agree at all with Alec's politics, can't agree with how he acts about conservatives. But, also feel terrible for him, because this was a complete freak accident. He's going to live with this the rest of his life. It's absolutely terrible, and those of us who call ourselves conservatives should extend compassion to him, the victims, and their families, not make a meme of the tragedy."