Trump’s Shameless Pandering to – and Ignoring of – LGBT and Hispanic Communities Reaches New Heights

Donald Trump Opens Campaign Office Across the Street From Pulse Nightclub – Scene of Nation’s Deadliest Anti-LGBT Hate Crime, Mass Shooting, Terror Attack

Two months to the day that 49 people were shot and killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Donald Trump stood before hundreds of evangelical Christians and delivered a speech at an anti-gay conference organized by a political operative who has called for a “war to restore a Christian America.” David Lane, who runs the American Renewal Project, which is funded by the anti-gay hate group American Family Association, invited Trump to speak to 700 evangelicals on Friday at an event he called “Rediscovering God in America.”

That event was literally 10 miles from the Pulse nightclub, which has since grown into a makeshift memorial covered with flowers and posters, decorated with candles, and held together with memories and tears. 

Donald Trump, literally a few hours after the 49 mostly Hispanic and LGBT people were gunned down, did as he always does. He took to Twitter, patted himself on the back by claiming he’s been right about “Islamic extremism,” and then for weeks used the LGBT community to further his political aspirations. 

The falsehoods spread by the media and groups like the Log Cabin Republicans, claiming that Donald Trump is the most pro-gay Republican to run for president dissolve when anyone looks at his actual stance on LGBT civil rights, and civil rights in general. But even Trump used that narrative to try to woo LGBT voters in the weeks after the Pulse attack, claiming, “I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.”

He also falsely, embarrassingly claimed: “The LGBT community, the gay community, the lesbian community, they are so much in favor of what I’ve been saying over the last three or four days.” And, stunningly, “you know what, LGBT is starting to like Donald Trump very much lately. Starting to like Donald Trump very, very much lately.”

So Donald Trump was 10 miles from the scene of the deadliest anti-gay hate crime in U.S. history, 10 miles from the scene of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, and 10 miles from the scene of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. 

And he ignored it.

He ignored the lives of the people who were lost, and the lives of their families and friends on Friday.

Instead, he addressed a conference of some of the nation’s most anti-LGBT evangelicals. People like David Lane, and Tony Perkins, and David Barton were there. And he just didn’t have time to drive ten miles to honor those people who were gunned down by a religious fanatic because they were LGBT.

Trump has several times mentioned them, when it suited his narrative, but on Friday he couldn’t even summon the moral courage to look those evangelical leaders in the eye and say, “homophobia kills, homophobia hurts, and you, as a community, need to do better, because people are literally dying because of the polices you promote, the hate you spread, the lies you tell.”

Even Republican Senator Marco Rubio, still as anti-gay as ever, in that same room to that same audience, just 24 hours earlier, told them it’s time to stop attacking LGBT people. It was the very least he could do, but it was something.

So what did Donald Trump do, instead of paying homage to the victims of the terror attack on the Pulse nightclub, instead of meeting with the families and friends of the 49 victims who were slaughtered – as Hillary Clinton did quietly in a visit several weeks ago that was not advertised to the press. As House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi did Thursday. As President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden did days after the massacre.

No. On Friday, the same day he tried to woo anti-LGBT evangelical leaders, Donald Trump – or, at least, his campaign – set up a campaign office across the street from Pulse.

Signs reading, “Hispanos con Trump,” “The Train Trump,” and “The Silent Majority Stands with Trump” now line the window of an office building across the street from the Pulse nightclub.

The Orlando Sentinel, reporting the news, graciously notes, the location “could be seen as problematic for a campaign struggling so far with Hispanics and the LGBT community.”

Some may see Trump opening an office across the street from Pulse as pandering, a way to attract LGBT and Hispanic voters, others may see it as a chilling reminder that his hate speech and policies are what nurture, foster, and give sustenance to people who treat minorities like garbage. (Any doubts? See this.)

Because Donald Trump doesn’t care about anyone except Donald Trump, he won’t respect the families and loved ones of the dead, but he sure as heck will invest in real estate right across the street.

 

Image by Jennifer Jacobs, @mmcnarney via Twitter