Trump branded ‘heartless’ for showing no emotion while talking about losing friend to coronavirus
President Donald Trump was severely criticized after he seemingly showed no emotions while talking about his friends who recently died from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Very powerful. People don’t realize. We all probably have friends. I have a number of people who were – just great people – who were just decimated by what happened. Some are dead right now. They’re dead. They went into a hospital. One called me. He said, ‘I tested positive.’ Four days later he was dead. The following day – the day after he said that – he was unconscious. So this is a tough deal. At the same time, some people got sniffles and they didn’t even realize they had a problem,” Trump said during his April 16 COVID-19 briefing, without showing any heartbreak or sadness over his personal loss.
Soon after his briefing concluded, Twitter flooded with users expressing shock and disgust at Trump's lack of emotion during his speech.
“Trump spoke of a ‘friend’ of his who called and said he had coronavirus, and four days later he was dead. No emotion, not a tear, no condolences. The man is a heartless b*****d whose only concern is $$$" one user wrote, while another said, “Trump just talked about his dead friend with no emotion whatsoever.”
A third tweeted: "The compassion coming from #DonaldTrump as he reveals his friends are 'dead,' was even colder than a serial killer talking about his victims. What do they call it when someone has no emotions? Because he most definitely has it. He is what we call a heartless b*****d."
And a fourth said: "Trump is the sickest person. He says dead and death talking about friends like he’s talking about eating French fries that were too cold to eat. Trump is a sociopathic monster.”
There were also those who cast doubt on the authenticity of the comments made by Trump. “Trump just said that his friend called him on the phone and said, ‘I tested positive,’ and four days later he was dead. This was said in the midst of a casual talk about the dead. He knows full well that we can’t check on who it is. Smells like a fresh lie," one user said.
On April 13, Trump was asked by a reporter to comment on the passing of legendary Manhattan real estate developer Stanley Chera, who was his friend. “He’s a great real estate person…was…passed away…great great,” Trump replied at the time. “Stanley went to the hospital a few weeks ago and never came out."
And, in a classic Trump-fashion, the president turned his friend's death into applause for himself. “He was so excited when his friend from New York became the President of the United States. He was so excited. He thought we’d do such a good job and he was so happy, and he was very proud of what we have done in this administration. But he was tested positive, and unfortunately, he didn’t make it," he said at the time, Hollywood Life reported.