Trump returns to golf course while shooting victim is buried nearby

Just about the time Trump was making the turn onto the back nine on Monday, during his 93rd round of presidential golf, the funeral for 15-year-old Luke Hoyer was set to begin at 11 a.m.

A freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Hoyer was among the 17 victims killed during last week’s gun massacre.

Rather than attend Monday’s funeral, Trump opted to play golf.

It appears he has no plans to attend any of the funeral services for the Parkland victims. Incapable of expressing genuine remorse to the survivors, and defensive about his slavish devotion to the NRA and its radical gun agenda, Trump has done as little as possible to show leadership in the wake of the mass murder.

In fact, he seemed to want credit over the weekend for not golfing over the weekend. The White House said he was abstaining from his regular weekend ritual “to respect the dead and the mourners.” That was the sacrifice he made in honor of the victims.

But on Monday, Trump was back on the links, enjoying another day under the Florida sun at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The White House routinely refuses to confirm Trump plays golf, but the assumption is that each time he arrives at one of his courses for several hours, he unwinds and hits the links.

Just 50 minutes away in Coral Springs, at the Church by the Glades, a “Celebration of Life” was scheduled for Luke Hoyer.

Nicknamed “Lukey-Bear,” Hoyer “was a quiet young man with simple tastes: basketball, video games, chicken nuggets and anything sweet. He loved his family, his dogs and his friends,” his family relayed to the public.

Hoyer was killed by a  former student who shot his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle nearly 150 times inside the high school during the Valentine’s Day killing rampage.

Trump’s absence was noted, especially after he tweeted a vapid Presidents Day message, urging people to have a “great, but reflective” day.

https://twitter.com/mlebonn/status/965618145733087235

Trump did make a perfunctory visit to the community last Friday. But as the Washington Post reported, he was only in the hospital “for about 35 minutes,” and spent most of his time talking about the response time from EMTs and law enforcement. He completely avoided the issue of gun access and did not publicly greet the families of any children who were killed in the attack.

More recently, the White House announced Trump would host a “listening session” — whatever that means — with as-yet unidentified students and teachers on Wednesday to discuss gun violence. Some students have already said they have no intention of meeting with him.

There seems to be almost no chance that students from Parkland, Florida, will be among those attending the session. Survivors have spent days vocally denouncing Trump for refusing to take action against America’s gun epidemic and for refusing to protect students across the country.

Instead of leading, Trump golfs.