Donald Trump slammed for asking Iowans to 'get over' and 'move forward' from recent school shooting

SIOUX CENTER, IOWA: During a campaign rally appearance in Iowa on Friday, January 5, former President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to the victims and families of a recent school shooting, but proceeded to urge his supporters to "move forward."

Trump said, “I want to send our support and our deepest sympathies to the victims and families touched by the terrible school shooting yesterday in Perry, Iowa.”

“It’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here,” he continued. “But have to get over it, we have to move forward.”

What did the other GOP presidential candidates say about the shooting?

Trump's relatively harsh and insensitive remark comes after a gunman entered Perry High School with a pump action shotgun and a handgun on Thursday morning, the first day back after winter break.

Authorities confirmed that he shot and killed a student and injured numerous others, including the school principal, per a report from The Hill.

The suspect, 17-year-old Dylan Butler, then shot and killed himself as police arrived, according to authorities.

However, they declined to disclose whether they discovered any plausible motivation for the massacre.

Vivek Ramaswamy forecasted that politicians would overreact to the incident with calls for firearm regulation, describing them as "knee-jerk policy reactions."

Instead, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur stated that the focus of legislation should be on mental health, saying, “The temptation is just pass some law, paper and over and say we did something in response to this.”

He continued, “You mark my words: Tomorrow, if not later today, you’re going to hear calls for, ‘Stop the guns, that’s the problem,’ sweeping under the rug this real ailment at the heart and soul of our nation and our culture that has spread to the entire next generation and to the unit of the family. The loss of purpose.”

Nikki Haley voiced her concerns to voters at a CNN Town Hall in Des Moines, on the same day as the shootout, later in the evening, saying, “We have to deal with the cancer that is mental health. We have to. What we see is that 80 percent of mass shooters are in some sort of crisis at the time that they do that.”

Her arguments echoed that of her rival Ramaswamy in the GOP presidential race, saying, “We have got to do better. The problem is we don’t have enough mental health therapists.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has journeyed much of his presidential campaign in the Hawkeye State, voiced his support for Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds, who endorsed him for 2024, and local law enforcement following the shooting.

DeSantis told NBC News in an interview “I don’t support infringing the rights of law-abiding citizens with respect to the ability to exercise their constitutional rights.”

He added, “I know these (regulations) can be used to try to target things, and a lot of the things that are proposed would not have even prevented any of these (shootings).”

DeSantis avoided saying if he would support any federal gun control regulations and just like his GOP rivals, focused on the mental health crisis that has been sweeping the nation resulting in horrifying incidents like this in every state.

“For whatever reason, there are people in our society that really get a kick out of doing this. And you have people that put it online and do all that. And that’s an underlying sickness in society. And I think that involves things like mental health,” DeSantis explained.

He continued, “We obviously have a responsibility to create safe environments. Federal government is probably not going to be leading that effort, I think it is more of a local and state issue.”

Their remarks came just over a week before the Iowa caucuses, which will kick off the primary voting season for the 2024 GOP primary.

This week, the Republican presidential contenders have been canvassing support in the state ahead of the January 15 caucuses.

Internet appalled by the lack of sympathy shown by Trump and other GOP presidential hopefuls

People on X slammed the Republican party and its leaders for showing no care and lacking sensitivity when speaking about the horrific incident that transpired last Thursday at Perry High School, resulting in the death of a child and multiple injuries.

One X user remarked: "Tell that to the parents."

Another user said: "Real sensitive, While i am against using school shootings to call for gun control(i am against gun control) this wrong to say."

Another user quipped: "Donald Trump, a man famous for his ability to get over things and move forward."

One user wrote: "Because he just Doesn't Care."

Another X user remarked: "Moving forward means waiting for the next school shooting of course."

Finally, this user tweeted: "In other words, Trump has no empathy of how parents suffer when their child is shot in what should be a safe place to learn."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.