El Paso, August 10 (RHC)-- More details have emerged about Wednesday’s visit to El Paso by the president and first lady Melania Trump. Reporters were barred from following the Trumps as they toured the University Medical Center of El Paso, where victims of last week's mass shooting were treated.
None of the eight survivors who were still receiving treatment agreed to meet with the president. But a cellphone video given to local station KDBC shows the president smiling and laughing with medical workers as he boasts about the size of a crowd at a Trump campaign rally in El Paso in February, while disparaging a competing campaign rally held by Beto O’Rourke.
In the video, President Donald Trump says: “That was some — that was some crowd! And we had twice the number outside!"
Observers noted that Trump has always been concerned about his "ratings" and "numbers" -- like a TV star who needs the maximum amount to feed his uncontrolable ego.
CNN reports a hospital official said that Trump showed an “absence of empathy” during the visit. On Thursday, Melania Trump’s Twitter account published a photo from the trip showing the first lady holding a 2-month-old infant who was orphaned when both her parents were gunned down Saturday. In the photo, President Trump stands next to his wife, flashing a “thumbs up” sign. Both the president and first lady are grinning widely.
Relatives reportedly brought the child back to the hospital for the Trumps’ visit. The child’s parents, Jordan and Andre Anchondo, died as they shielded their baby from the white nationalist shooter whose online manifesto — published moments before the assault — echoed Trump’s rhetoric about an “invasion” of immigrants. The baby was grazed by a bullet and was treated for minor injuries. He will grow up without his parents.