Donald Trump Jr was celebrated by the far right, and condemned everywhere else, for sharing a meme that made light of the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
The self-described “general in meme wars” shared the controversial post to his personal Instagram account on Sunday night, just two days after Paul Pelosi, 82, was forced to undergo surgery after being attacked at the couple’s San Francisco home by a hammer-wielding intruder.
The House speaker’s husband suffered a fractured skull in the attack in addition to injuries to his right arm and hands but is reportedly expected to make a full recovery.
News of the attack prompted many lawmakers across the political spectrum to issue their condolences for the Democratic leader’s family, and even led to the US government distributing a bulletin to law enforcement agencies across the country to warn of a “heightened threat” of domestic violent extremism against candidates and election workers.
Former president Donald Trump’s son, however, saw the unprecedented attack against the Democratic lawmaker’s husband as an opportunity to publicly mock Mr Pelosi, who still remains in hospital recovering after the violent attack.
The meme shared by Mr Trump included the picture of a pair of Hanes underwear alongside a hammer, with the caption that read: “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.”
In a follow-up post to the original caption, Mr Trump added: “If you switch out the hammer for a red feather boa, you can instantly transform yourself into a Hunter Biden.”
Followers of the extremely online far-right antagonist quickly seized upon the meme and began liking and resharing on Instagram and other social media platforms.
On Twitter, the former president’s son accrued more than 15,000 likes on his retweet of the meme in less than 12 hours of sharing it with at least 2,000 retweets.
While some of Mr Trump’s quote tweeters seemed to find his sense of humour amusing – “priceless” and “hilarious” were some of the words used by his fans – others were quick to dismiss the meme as “disgusting” and “horrible”.
“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,” tweeted Dean Obeidallah, an American lawyer and host of radio show The Dean Obeidallah Show.
“Donald Trump Jr. joking about the assassination attempt on Nancy Pelosi. Republicans are sick and dangerous,” tweeted another online observer of the controversial meme.
David DePape, the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer, is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday over the assault.
Mr DePape is facing charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and other felonies over the Friday attack on the 82-year-old. He is expected to be charged on Monday and he may also face federal charges.
