Overview

Donald Trump's "I Hear You" Note refers to the reaction to United States President Donald Trump's notes to talking points for his meeting with survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting. People reacted negatively primarily to the note that reads, "I hear you," with people criticizing the president's perceived lack of empathy.

Background

On February 21st, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump held a listening session with survivors and relatives of victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. During the session, a photograph by Carolyn Kaster of the president holding meeting notes was shared by the Associated Press on Twitter. ^[1] The notes include, "1) What would most want me to know about your experience?" and "5) I hear you." The post (shown below) received more than 17,000 retweets and 25,000 likes in less than 24 hours.

Development

Online Reaction

Shortly after the tweet was posted, people began commenting about Trump's notes. Twitter^[2] user @RonSexsmith tweeted, "At Trump's "Listening Sesson" today….For him to have to write down "I hear you" as one of his notes is kind of troubling. RS." The post (shown below, left) received more than 3,600 retweets and 13,000 likes in less that 24 hours.

Others made jokes about Trump's perceived lack of empathy. Twitter^[3] user @darth tweeted, "'what is this again' 'a listening session sir' '..and…i…' 'i wrote it down for you sir.'" Within 24 hours, the tweet (shown below, center) received more than 1,100 retweets and 6,500 likes.

Twitter^[4] user @MEPFuller tweeted a Roses Are Red poem that reads, "Roses are red / Violets are blue / Tell me your thoughts about guns / And (5) I hear you." The post (shown below, right) received more than 6,200 retweets and 27,000 likes in 24 hours.

Upworthy writer Parker Molloy tweeted^[5] a gif of a person looking at crib notes during an example. She captioned the tweet, "Trump going into the meeting:" The post (shown below) received more than 3,900 retweets and 17,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Twitter^[6] published a Moments page about the reaction to Trump's use of notes.

That day, an anonymous 4chan ^[7] on the /pol/ posted the image with the caption, "What a cuck." Another responded, "This is getting ridiculous, if I could go back in time I would have never voted for him."

That day, the image was posted on the /r/politics subreddit ^[8] by yopd1, where it received more than 18,900 points (90% upvoted) and 2,400 comments in less than 24 hours.

Media Coverage

Several news outlet covered the image and reaction to the it, including The Hill,^[9] The Washington Post,^[10] The Guardian,^[11] CNN^[12] and more.

Search Interest

External References