Trump administration in hiding after disastrous school shooting response

Trump’s response to the latest mass shooting, this time at a high school in Florida, has been typically heartless, tone-deaf, and ignorant.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have been calling out Trump and the GOP over the patent unwillingness to do a single thing to stem the epidemic of gun violence across the nation.

But while teens, teachers, and gun safety advocates have been speaking out, the Trump White House went into radio silence Sunday morning.

Across the major Sunday news shows — “This Week” on ABC, “Meet the Press” on NBC, “Face the Nation” on CBS, “State of the Union” on CNN, and “Fox News Sunday” — not a single Trump administration figure was scheduled to appear, and none did.

Meanwhile, shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez, who issued a brave rallying cry against gun violence and those whose policies and ideology help perpetuate it, was on “Meet the Press” with four of her classmates to continue their pleas for change and accountability.

“Now is the time to get on the right side” of the fight against gun violence, Gonzalez said, addressing Trump, Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott, and Sen. Marco Rubio.

“These people who are being funded by the NRA are not going to be allowed to remain in office when midterm elections roll around,” she continued.

“We’re going to lead the rest of the nation behind us,” Cameron Kasky added.

The courage shown by these teenagers, who just lived through one of the most horrific experiences imaginable, is amplified by comparison to the cowardice on display by the Trump administration.

Now would have been the time for people from the White House to go on national television and tell the public what will be done to stop the next mass shooting and to save lives.

But since the Republican Party is still cozily ensconced in the NRA’s pocket, there would be vanishingly little that could have been said beyond the typical platitudes of “thoughts and prayers.”

So instead of being put on the spot to attempt to defend Trump’s childish responses to the massacre, and the right wing’s continued lack of concern for victims of gun violence, the administration went into hiding as the “so-called adults” in the GOP have shirked their responsibilities.

It’s a decision that backfired immediately, as it gave the students the floor to call out the right’s inaction. And it will surely have a detrimental ripple effect right up through the midterm elections.