Trump's Response to the Santa Fe Shooting Is Bad Even for Him

President Donald Trump offered a series of lackluster and bizarre statements in in response to the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday.

As details first began to emerge about the shooting—which has left at least eight people dead at the Houston-area school—Trump didn’t wait for official public statements from local officials, and instead alerted his millions of Twitter followers to the attack, inelegantly describing it as “not looking good.”

“God bless all!” he added.

Shortly thereafter, Trump took the podium at a pre-scheduled event, where he was all smiles before before he addressed the shooting.

“This has been going on too long in our country. Too many years, too many decades now,” Trump said, before describing the violence as an “absolutely horrific attack.”

“To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High,” Trump continued, strangely pausing for seconds between the words “Fe” and “High.” “We’re with you in this tragic hour and we will be with you forever.”

He went on:

My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools, and keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others.

The president’s remarks come just two weeks after he whipped the crowd at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference into a rabid frenzy by promising, among other things, to focus on mental health, and not access to guns, in response to school shootings.