Visiting the sites of natural disasters or tragedies is something every president has to do while in office. And it’s because it’s expected that it makes such interactions so potentially awkward, as the media’s trying to capture the moments and twist the images for their own agendas.
With Trump, they’ve been smearing him left and right over his trips to places like Houston and Puerto Rico, saying he’s un-presidential and self-centered when it’s supposed to be about the victims. But if you actually watch the videos of his time with victims, and how he interacted with people all throughout his campaign, you know that’s he’s as affable as any president in recent memory.
As reported at the Daily Mail, while visiting some of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, some tear-jerking scenes were captured. One man, who was shot in the leg, refused to let the injury keep him from meeting the president, as he stood to greet Trump and First Lady Melania.
Thomas Gunderson was enjoying his weekend at the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Sunday when the completely unexpected and unimaginable occurred. Fifty-nine people were killed and hundreds wounded, himself among them.
In the video, Gunderson is just sitting in his bed when Melania, much to his surprise, comes around the corner. He immediately starts to stand, despite his injury, to greet her. After exchanging pleasantries with her, Trump cam over to shake his hand.
“Hi, Thomas. How are you?” Melania Trump asks as she tells him not to get up.
“I’m okay,” Gunderson is heard saying as he gets to his feet and the pair shakes hands.
“Hey, this guy looks tough to me,” the president said as he shook Gunderson’s hand and asked hm “How’s it going?”
Gunderson posted the video to his Facebook page with the caption: “I will never lie down when the President of this great country comes to shake my hand!There may be plenty of issues in this country but I will always respect my country, my president and my flag. Shot in the leg or not, I will stand to show my President the respect he deserves!” Gunderson wrote.
Talk about well-said. We live in an era of outrage, where merely shaking a president’s hand can cause people to question your humanity. But Gunderson wasn’t deterred, instead he made the most of his opportunity to meet and talk with the president.
On Gunderson’s patient board in his hospital room, he also had the hashtag “#MAGA” written under the statement: “What’s important to me.”
Gunderson wasn’t the only patient Trump visited. Earlier on Wednesday, the president met with other victims and the doctors looking over them, saying their outstanding work made him “proud to be an American.” He also revealed that he invited many of them to visit him at the White House once things cool off.
“I just met some of the most amazing people,” he told reporters at University Medical Center. “We met patients that were absolutely terribly wounded. I invited a lot of them over to the White House,” he added.
Trump praised medical professionals who have kept the death toll from growing.
“The doctors, the nurses – all of the people at the hospital have done a job that’s indescribable,” he said.
Needless to say, hospitals in Las Vegas have been at their limit dealing with the mass of wounded. Their tenacity and hard work likely saved untold lives, and for that, they deserve all the praise they’ve been given and more.
Source: Daily Mail