Republican Presidential nominee former President Donald J. Trump holds his first public campaign rally with his running mate, Vice Presidential nominee U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) (not pictured), at the Van Andel Arena on July 20, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is also Trump's first public rally since he was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13.
Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

‘This is what senility looks like’: ‘Tone-deaf draft dodger’ Trump’s toothy smirk proves no tragedy is too sacred for a sales opportunity

Donald Trump‘s MAGA crowd talks about how “unsettling” Kamala Harris’ laughter is, but have they seen their presidential pick? Seeing him grin ear to ear with an Israeli hostage’s poster in hand is terrifying, to say the least.

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The man in the photo is Edan Alexander. He is an American IDF soldier captured by Hamas on Oct.7, 2023. Hamas still has Edan and several hostages in captivity. Unfortunately, former president Donald Trump took the opportunity to turn Edan’s poster into a photo-op prop.

The photo was posted by Ben Shapiro on his Twitter account. Shapiro claims that when Trump visited the October 7th remembrance event in Queens, New York, he went with the family of Edan Alexander. He and Trump “pray for the swift return of the hostages.” Despite Shapiro’s attempts to fish for sympathy, George Conway zoomed in on Trump’s face and reposted it on his Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/MoonChannelOne/status/1843418274668638510

Needless to say, Conway wasn’t the only one to criticize Trump’s grin. Conway was wordless but emphasized how unsettling Trump’s smile was given the context. Others on Twitter believed that Trump was “completely indifferent to anything else but promoting himself.”

Even Republicans are sick of Trump’s schtick

Even the popular Twitter account, Republicans against Trump, had one word to say about the photo. “Sickening” isn’t even a sentence, but it’s enough to express how people feel about this photo. After all, Trump shouldn’t be in the condition to smile during a memorial event—especially when there are still hostages that have not been freed.

This is clearly no time to smile, but Trump doesn’t seem to understand that a hostage’s photo shouldn’t be used to bolster his public image. It doesn’t make him look like he cares about the other hostages either. If anything, Trump successfully scared the internet with this photo of him. It shouldn’t be a tall order to demand decency for the dead and those who are still in danger. 


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Vanessa Esguerra
Vanessa Esguerra (She/They) has been a Contributing Writer for The Mary Sue since 2023. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, she (happily) rejected law school in 2021 and has been a full-time content writer since. Vanessa is currently taking her Master's degree in Japanese Studies in hopes of deepening her understanding of the country's media culture in relation to pop culture, women, and queer people like herself. She speaks three languages but still manages to get lost in the subways of Tokyo with her clunky Japanese. Fueled by iced coffee brewed from local cafés in Metro Manila, she also regularly covers anime and video games while queuing for her next match in League of Legends.