Donald Trump mocked the widow of his supporter killed by a would-be assassin's bullet at one of his rallies, according to a leaked audio recording of him speaking to donors in Colorado.The former president's dinner guests erupted in laughter as he quipped about the woman grieving her slain husband a...
Hate trump but I think RawStory is misrepresenting this as they do much else.
Here is the reporting for the Guardian, a mpre legitimate source of news:
Still sounds like a joke at his expense, no?
I don’t think it’s at his expense? The idea is that the deceased and his widow were in love and would value each other more than money:
whereas he claims that some people in the audience would be thrilled to trade their spouses for money.
Trump is using the widows response to her husbands death to deliver a joke. Trying to make the whole thing funny.
How is that joke not at their expense, when it’s built on their situation?
“Ha, these two were deeply in love and had a marriage stronger than money! What losers!” Fairly hard to make the claim the joke is at their expense.
This might be a language thing though? The phrase at their expense tends to mean that whomever is the butt of the joke. In this case, the four audience marriages are the butt of the joke as they are not as in love as the deceased.
I don’t know if you’re old enough to have spoken at funerals. There are jokes you tell while doing so, usually framed like this wherein you’re praising the deceased (usually a common memory, like their cooking) and comparing yourself or the crowd unfavourably.
Now, I’m not sure it was appropriate or wise for trump to try this at a fundraiser but it seems disingenuous to say he was making fun of the deceased, which is how most English readers would interpret the headline.
Not at his expense IMO, but poor taste anyhow
How is it not at his expense, to make a joke that some women would rather have the money than their husband back?
Very poor taste at the best. Crass regard for the tragedy is normal for the old weird felon.
Oh absolutely. It’s just the phrasing of the headline implies he’s joking about how dumb or whatever the guy is instead of say, that he had a beautiful and loving marriage.
If a random comedian made that joke it would be offensive and slightly funny.
He’s a former president, vying to be the next president, using a very real person’s trauma to set up the punch-line of a joke. It’s inappropriate and shows his lack of empathy.
It’s inappropriate etc but it’s not exactly making fun of the dead.
I try to think about these things from a “what would a median/swing voter think if they read this AND knew the context.” I firmly believe that misleading headlines etc have helped trump by making it harder for those in the middle to trust media outlets.
The first quote is the EXACT same as the OP article, and it’s disgusting to crack a joke about women rather have the money than their husband back. As the finale to a story about the woman who just lost her husband.
From the article 3rd paragraph:
So what part about making a joke about it is it they misrepresent?