When the news broke about the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, most responded with expressions of grief, offering their condolences to his family. The city of Los Angeles mourned the loss of one of its most prominent celebrities. Current and former professional basketball players also joined in, highlighting Bryant’s accomplishments and his relationship with his family. 

But in the midst of the widespread grieving, others saw an opportunity to use Bryant’s untimely passing to launch cynical political attacks against President Donald Trump. Among some of the other garbage takes on this tragedy, these individuals decided to engage in some of the ugliest behavior imaginable in response to the incident. 

Leftist activists and journalists took to Twitter to take issue with Trump’s two tweets commenting on Bryant’s passing. Some even stated that they wish it had been Trump who died instead of the athlete. Shortly after the story was reported, he tweeted:

Reports are that basketball great Kobe Bryant and three others have been killed in a helicopter crash in California. That is terrible news!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2020

Kobe Bryant, despite being one of the truly great basketball players of all time, was just getting started in life. He loved his family so much, and had such strong passion for the future. The loss of his beautiful daughter, Gianna, makes this moment even more devastating….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 26, 2020

Here are only a few of the individuals who used the story to lambast Trump:

That is terrible news, exacerbated by the fact that you’re still in office.

You don’t respect Black athletes. Keep Kobe’s name out of your lying, racist, mouth, you vile, disgusting, white nationalist, demagogue.https://t.co/juWrDYJQqY https://t.co/SwAAEREXrl

— Bishop Talbert Swan (@TalbertSwan) January 26, 2020

Trump was tweeting incorrect information about the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash as rockets were reported hitting the US embassy in Baghdad.

https://t.co/kwXlsbtj76 via @politicususa

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 26, 2020

Kobe, his daughter, and everyone else on the helicopter died tragically and should be allowed to RIP. The media saw an out to avoid reporting Saturday’s mic drop case presented by Trump’s defense team and they took it. Shameful.

— Tarah Price (@tarahtalk) January 27, 2020

Donald Trump just shamefully ripped off President Obama’s tweet about Kobe Bryant https://t.co/ea3eeWpkii

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) January 27, 2020

Of course, it’s worth pointing out that the majority of Americans on both the left and the right didn’t seize on the opportunity to inject politics into Bryant’s fatal accident. Most expressed grief and sympathy for his remaining family, as well as the others who were killed in the helicopter crash. But it seems those on the fringes — who tend to be the loudest and receive the most attention — were the ones who didn’t care about the tragedy. 

This is yet another story demonstrating how bitter and divided American society has become. The issue isn’t that these individuals attacked the president — that’s par for the course these days. The problem is that they were willing to use a man’s death purely for political purposes. It has gotten to a point where some of the noisiest people can’t respond to this type of incident without making it political. It makes one wonder if America will ever cease to be so polarized. 

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

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