Social media users reacted with alarm after Fox News contributor and Trump campaign spokesperson Lara Trump—the wife of former Republican President Donald Trump's son Eric—was shown on video playing with her young son during Hurricane Ian just before the storm made landfall in Florida.
Trump shared a video to her social media channels of her and her visibly upset son playing outside during heavy rain, in what she referred to as a "character building" exercise.
Emergency preparedness experts recommend limiting outdoor activities before and after a hurricane as lightning strikes and tornadoes are a serious hazard.
You can see the video Trump shared below.
\u201cLara Trump and son during the storm, in what she calls a \u201ccharacter building\u201d exercise.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1664375391
The Category 4 storm—which meteorologists believed would soon become a Category 5—is the ninth named storm, fourth hurricane and second major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.
Millions of people in Florida have been told to evacuate and those that haven't have been instructed to hunker down at the risk of facing maximum winds clocking in at 155 miles per hour.
Storm surges also come in very fast.
The steady rains can cause flash floods in ditches and streets in just moments.
\u201cHere is what this view typically looks like\u201d— Mike Bettes (@Mike Bettes) 1664387202
Earlier this week, the storm battered the island of Cuba, killing two people in the city of Pinar del Rio. Millions in the country are without power after Ian caused the entire power grid to collapse.
Given the very real dangers, many reacted with alarm to the video.
People criticized Trump's parenting, saying she should be referred to Child Protective Services (CPS).
\u201cI thought there could be nothing worse than having Eric Trump as your dad, but I was wrong. There's having Lara Trump as your mom.\u201d— rodney grim (@rodney grim) 1664376601
\u201cSomebody needs to call Child Protective Services on Lara trump for having her son out in the storm and filming him crying his eyes out, FFS.\n\nDisgusting.\u201d— BrooklynDad_Defiant!\u262e\ufe0f (@BrooklynDad_Defiant!\u262e\ufe0f) 1664385798
\u201cI\u2019m not surprised that Lara Trump is a horrible and abusive mother.\u201d— Mayo \ud83c\udf3b (@Mayo \ud83c\udf3b) 1664388729
\u201cWould you publicly post a video exploiting and humiliating your very young child for clicks? Because it sure looks like Lara Trump did.\u201d— Don Lewis (@Don Lewis) 1664387573
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s worse - that Lara Trump did this to her child, or that she filmed it and then posted it as some sort of brag.\n\nhttps://t.co/qhNvDOaCYM\u201d— Jo \ud83c\udf3b (@Jo \ud83c\udf3b) 1664379160
\u201cLara Trump is trending, because she is to parenting what Eric Trump is to thinking.\u201d— cjmmn (@cjmmn) 1664381264
\u201cTo be clear, the disgusting feckless vacuous crude moron Lara trump filming her child outside as he cries as a deadly hurricane approaches when everyone should be inside and all you hear is her horrid laughter is called child abuse. Child protection services should have a word.\u201d— Ricky Davila (@Ricky Davila) 1664386602
\u201c\u201cLara Trump\u201d needs an emergency visit from child services.\u201d— \u2730 \u273f \u2766 I\u1587\u15f0\u15e9 \u2766 \u273f \u2730 (@\u2730 \u273f \u2766 I\u1587\u15f0\u15e9 \u2766 \u273f \u2730) 1664384395
\u201cWhat Lara Trump is doing by making her child stay in the storm scared while filming him is abuse. Plain and simple.\u201d— Tony Posnanski (@Tony Posnanski) 1664381749
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to take the storm seriously and said there will be more requests for federal assistance for those displaced by the storm.
DeSantis confirmed he'd liaisoned with the federal government and spoken to Democratic President Joe Biden. DeSantis later told Fox News personality Sean Hannity "we all need to work together regardless of party lines," noting the Biden administration quickly "approved our request for a pre-landfall declaration."
DeSantis and Biden have previously been at odds as DeSantis—a GOP favorite to run in 2024—criticized the Biden administration on everything from immigration to Democrats' efforts to protect reproductive rights.
The White House stressed the political differences between Biden and DeSantis would not affect the federal government's disaster response—a marked difference from the Trump administration.
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