It’s only been three days since Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, but the Trump family has never been known to hang back when there’s a tawdry buck to make.
The oldest Trump son, Donald Jr., is hawking $27.99 T-shirts on his official site with the mocking slogan: “Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.” On his Instagram stories, the Trump son also posted a photoshopped pic of the actor wearing one of the Ts.
It’s the latest and possibly most egregious example of Trumpworld’s celebration of Thursday’s fatal accident on the set of Rust. The alt-right has reveled in the shooting due to Baldwin’s previous mockery of ex-President Donald Trump and his advocacy for tighter controls on firearms.
J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy and a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, used Hutchins’ death to suck up to Trump. Hours after news of the shooting broke, Vance tweeted at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: “Dear @jack let Trump back on. We need Alec Baldwin tweets.” Candace Owens said the shooting was “poetic justice” for Baldwin’s Trump mockery.
Donald Trump Jr. seemed to anticipate the completely justified criticism coming his way over his tacky merchandise sale, writing in a later Instagram post: “Screw all the sanctimony I’m seeing out there. If the shoe was on the other foot Alex Baldwin would literally be the first person pissing on everybody’s grave trying to make a point. Fuck him!”
While Trump may be finding the fatal accident funny, Baldwin has said his “heart is broken” over Hutchins’ death, which, according to legal papers, happened after the actor was handed a gun that he was told was unloaded. Hutchins’ father said over the weekend that he doesn’t blame Baldwin for her death, but the movie’s firearms team.
Instagram has been approached for comment on the posts.