Former President Donald Trump mocked the brutal hammer assault on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband by one of his supporters during his speech to the California GOP on Friday, asking, "How's her husband doing, anybody know?" and remarking that the wall around her San Francisco house "didn't do a very good job," to uproarious laughter from the audience.
Commenters were swift to condemn Trump's remarks — and the people supporting him.
"A Trump-inspired conspiracy nut fractured Paul Pelosi’s skull with a hammer when his plan to kidnap Nancy Pelosi failed," wrote Georgetown University public policy professor Don Moynihan. "This is what they are laughing about."
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
"Imagine being the type of person that would laugh about an 82 year old man being assaulted with a hammer to his head," wrote MSNBC morning anchor and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough. "Who are these people?"
"Saying it again: people who support a candidate who does these things are not good people," wrote former Naval War College professor and staff writer for The Atlantic Tom Nichols. "They might love their kids and be nice to their dog, but there is a moral flaw in supporting someone like Donald Trump."
"His thoughts and words are just such an affront to basic human decency," wrote former Marine fighter pilot and 2020 Kentucky Senate candidate Amy McGrath.
"This whole speech is even more deranged than his usual evil crap," wrote political consultant Fred Wellman. "He has decided he can do whatever he wants."
"I have said it before and I’ll say it again: the biggest divide in our politics today is not right v left but awful people vs not-awful people," wrote MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan. "As Adam Serwer might say, the cruelty here is the point."
Perhaps the darkest take came from MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes, who wrote, "A thing I believe to my core is that if the mob had, in fact, lynched Mike Pence on Jan 6, Trump would a) be making jokes about it just like this to big laughs from these crowds b) still be the runaway front-runner for the Republican nomination."
