Ex-Parkland students criticize Kellyanne Conway

A pair of former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students on Tuesday criticized White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway over comments she made about President Trump’s efforts to visit communities impacted by mass shootings. 

{mosads}The criticism came after a weekend where mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, left more than 30 people dead. Trump is expected to visit both cities this week.

“The president has wanted to go there since he learned of these tragedies,” Conway told reporters on Tuesday. “You have seen this president on the ground with people — Parkland, Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada and certainly victims of natural disasters as well, like the hurricanes. So he goes trying to help heal communities.”

“You see what he’s done in the past and you expect that he will continue to do that,” she added. 

David Hogg and Matt Deitsch, who became prominent gun control activists after a school shooting in Parkland, Fla., left 17 dead, denounced Conway’s remarks, saying that Trump never visited Parkland when he traveled to the region following the attack. 

Trump did visit a South Florida hospital to comfort the victims and thank medical staff caring for them, though he did not visit Parkland itself.

The president traveled to the Broward Health North medical center in Pompano Beach, Fla., and the Broward County Sheriff’s office during his trip. The medical center is about 20 miles from the site of the school shooting.

“It’s sad something like that could happen,” Trump said after meeting with victims and their families. 

Days later, Trump held a listening session at the White House with parents and students impacted by mass shootings. 

Deitch, a 2016 graduate whose younger brother survived the massacre, said the president never did anything for the Parkland community. 

“Trump never came to Parkland,” Deitch, one of the organizers of last year’s “March for Our Lives” rally, said on Twitter. “He held a bs listening session in DC and did NOTHING.”

Trump never came to Parkland.

He held a bs listening session in DC and did NOTHING.

He was with Paul Ryan at a fundraiser 45min away from Parkland when the shooting happened and didn’t do a single fucking thing.

That’s why these keep happening. Y’all can’t even TRY to care. https://t.co/Hm1OR2ppOV

— Matt Deitsch (@MattxRed) August 6, 2019

He added that Trump didn’t do a a “single f—ing thing” and that mass shootings continue to happen because of the administration’s negligence.