Donald Trump Jr. believes he has his reasons for hating Alec Baldwin, an outspoken liberal Hollywood “elite” who recently called his father a sociopath and who spent more than four years spoofing the 45th president on “Saturday Night Live.”
But people on social media say that the son of Donald Trump has proven himself to be “the lowest of the low” by using Baldwin’s role in the on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins to mock the actor, who also has expressed strong views against Trump Jr.’s beloved National Rife Association.
As tributes from around the world began pouring in for the 42-year-old Hutchins, Trump Jr. was among Baldwin’s many “Trumpworld” critics to blast the “30 Rock” star for his role in the fatal incident Thursday on the New Mexico set of Baldwin’s Western film, “Rust,” the Daily Beast and Independent reported.
Trump Jr. also appeared to show particular glee in posting snark-infused comments to ridicule and shame the actor.
For example, Trump Jr. shared a photo of Baldwin on Friday with the message, “That look when an anti gun nut kills more people with a gun than your extensive firearm collection ever has…”
On Monday morning, Trump Jr. also posted a photo of his father at a press conference, with his fingers pretending to hold a gun. The photo’s headline reads, “Donald Trump, rehearsing for an ‘SNL’ sketch, where he plays Alec Baldwin.”
The Daily Beast furthermore reported that Trump Jr. was hawking $27.99 T-shirts on his official site with the slogan: “Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.” On his Instagram stories, Trump Jr., a fierce proponent of his father’s MAGA ideology, also posted a photoshopped image of the actor wearing one of the T-shirts.
“It’s the latest and possibly most egregious example of Trumpworld’s celebration of Thursday’s fatal accident on the set of ‘Rust,'” the Daily Beast said, adding that the alt-right “has reveled in the shooting” because of Baldwin’s anti-Trump comments and advocacy for tighter controls on firearms.
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1452623251440607233
But others said the cruelty is par for the course for Trump Jr.:
Don Jr making jokes about a film cinematographer being shot and killed on set?
You mean the same Don Jr who in a radio segment joked about the Aurora Colorado movie theater mass shooting only a couple of hours after the shooting? I’m shocked. 🙄
— 〠Billy D Starchild (@BillyDStarchild) October 25, 2021
While Trump Jr. found humor in the death of Hutchins, the mother of an 8-year-old son, Baldwin was reportedly “hysterical and absolutely inconsolable for hours” following the shooting, People reported.
In a brief statement, Baldwin, 63, called the incident “a tragic accident” and said “there are no words to convey my shock and sadness.” He also said he was fully cooperating with authorities.
But while many of Baldwin’s fans and celebrity friends were quick to assert on social media that he’s not to blame, it should be noted that the investigation is ongoing. Gun experts interviewed over the weekend said that a number of well-established safety protocols appear to have been violated on the set of the low-budget film. Some questioned why Baldwin reportedly was pointing the gun in Hutchins’ direction, while others said that, as one of the film’s producers, he might face additional liability.
According to an affidavit released Sunday, Hutchins was shot in the chest while Baldwin was rehearsing a scene and practicing removing a revolver from its holster and aiming it toward the camera, the Los Angeles Times reported. Both Hutchins and 48-year-old director Joel Souza were standing behind the camera, the New York Post added.
Baldwin and others on set were told the gun was “cold” by assistant director Dave Halls, meaning it did not contain any live rounds, Souza told Santa Fe County, N.M. sheriff’s investigators. Souza, a Bay Area resident, also was wounded in the shooting. He was treated at a nearby hospital and released.
Multiple media and social media reports have raised particular concerns about the actions of Halls, who handed Baldwin the gun, and of 24-year-old chief armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, who was supposed to prepare the guns for use in the scene.
Celebrity website TMZ.com, citing unidentified sources connected to the production, also said the gun handed to Baldwin had previously been used by crew members for target practice off-set, using real bullets.
But one gun expert, interviewed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, was among those who asked why Baldwin was apparently pointing the gun in someone’s direction when it discharged.
“When you use an unmodified firearm that can accept live ammo. when you put that live ammo in it, when you point the gun at a person, you’ve broken three rules that can lead down the road towards accidental homicides,” Steve Wolf, a weapons safety expert for films, told Maddow Friday.
“Let’s say you brought a live gun and put real ammo in it, but when you pointed it you observed the rule that you don’t point guns at things you don’t want to see holes in, there wouldn’t have been a fatality,” Wolf continued. “People would have said, ‘Oh my gosh this is an unsafe set and I’m leaving,’ but no one would have been killed. You have to break a bunch of rules … .”
Meanwhile, Trump Jr.’s gleeful comments on Baldwin’s situation continued over the weekend. On Saturday, he posted a photograph of Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria, with a crude caption that poked fun at her Spanish heritage scandal. The Boston-born Hilaria Baldwin was revealed earlier this year to have spent the past decade trying to present herself as a Spanish immigrant. “How you say in English, we’re (expletive)” the caption read.
But as criticism grew against Trump Jr.’s Baldwin comments, he was unrepentant. In fact, with the photo he posted Monday, he hit back at people who say it’s wrong for him to go after Baldwin.
He wrote, “For those who are out there doing the fake sanctimony about leaving Alec Baldwin alone let’s all remember that Alec Baldwin would be the first person pissing on everyone’s grave if the shoes were on the other foot. Screw him!”
