Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was allegedly attacked with a hammer in his San Francisco home on Friday morning by 42-year-old suspect David Depape. Pelosi later underwent surgery on his skull due to repair a fracture sustained during the assault.
On Saturday night, Trump, the son of former President Donald Trump, made light of the attack with a message on Twitter. His tweet shared a post from someone who uploaded a photograph of underwear with a hammer. The original tweet read, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.”
“The internet remains undefeated…Also if you switch out the hammer for a red feather boa you could be Hunter Biden in an instant,” Trump wrote in his tweet.
The following day, Trump shared the same image on his Instagram account without the original poster’s attribution and his own Biden joke removed.
“You are truly a despicable human. Karma will not be kind,” wrote one of the many Twitter users who were critical of Trump’s post.
Some of Trump’s followers found his post humorous, including someone on Instagram who wrote in his comments section: “Costume of the year.”
Many others though, felt it was insensitive.
“This is an example of the horror that is Jr. and his whole family,” said one person on Twitter. “An 82 year old husband of the Speaker of the House is recovering in an ICU.”
“Donald Trump, Jr’s Paul Pelosi Halloween costume is offensive and tears away at society’s civility. You’d expect it from prison inmates not a former President’s son,” another person tweeted. “It’s no joking matter. Paul Pelosi could have died.”
“The attack on Paul Pelosi was an assassination attempt against our Speaker of the House. It was domestic terrorism,” read one tweet. “The Donald Trump Jr. tweet mocking it is one of the more despicable things I’ve seen on here.”
“There’s no dog whistle, this is Trump Jr praising the violent attack on Paul Pelosi. Wild,” best-selling author Frederick Joseph tweeted.
“One of the most vile things is people like Donald Trump Jr now mocking 82 year old Paul Pelosi after being beaten with a hammer by a MAGA terrorist. Im betting though Bin Laden’s oldest son cheered 9/11 so not really that surprising,” Dean Obeidallah, host of a radio show on SiriusXM, wrote.
On Monday, Trump posted another message that referenced the attack on Pelosi. He shared a tweet of someone joking about “open carry” laws for hammers in San Francisco.
“Ban all hammers…,” Trump wrote in the caption.
Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump Jr. via the Trump Organization for comment.
