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This past weekend, millions of Americans gathered to celebrate Easter, the Christian holiday marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Former President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., marked the holiday with a bizarre post featuring Easter bunnies wielding assault rifles over the slogan "come and take it"—a favorite mantra of Second Amendment absolutists challenging the government to take their weapons.
Junior posted the meme on his Instagram account.
The post was a sad illustration of many conservatives' obsession with lethal weapons, using a symbol of purity and rebirth to promote juvenile aggression and insecurity.
It wasn't long before Junior's critics began calling him out, including Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
I get that the whole point of this is to troll and get Democrats to go crazy, but in all honesty it’s not a coincidence that violence in America - often off the wall, hair trigger violence - has skyrocketed since the Trumps came to dominate political debate in America. pic.twitter.com/IdaDYQOqky
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 17, 2022
While Murphy acknowledged Junior was trolling in an effort to "own the libs," he said "it’s not a coincidence that violence in America - often off the wall, hair trigger violence - has skyrocketed since the Trumps came to dominate political debate in America."
It's true that while Trump was President, hate crimes rose 20 percent, according to the FBI. Cities that hosted Trump rallies saw stratospheric spikes in violence and crime. Over the course of Trump's presidency, the nation saw his supporters mail pipe bombs to his critics. It saw mass shooters echo his rhetoric on immigration. A mob of pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol in order to install him for another term against the will of the American people.
Murphy was calling out this firearm fixation as conducive to the violence the U.S. has constantly seen unfold in the wake of the Trump era, and people largely agreed.
I am so tired of the alt-right-wingers, trumps, QAnon and others. Their tone-deaf crap is not funny or cute. It is ridiculous. For the past couple of weeks there have been a boatload of mass shootings, yet these crazies embrace violence. https://t.co/NdFG63zTSu
— Lisa C (@CutPhD) April 18, 2022
what happened to the trumps? just take a look at this mess don jr created, gun totting easter bunnies https://t.co/TFMAaFH5np
— Elaine Warthen (@EWarthen) April 17, 2022
Perfectly explains how Republicans politicize Christianity into a dark, warped, cartoon to satisfy their justification for violence. https://t.co/Krsy9nIJHp
— Kimberle (@Berlesue) April 18, 2022
Something tells me the Trump family doesn’t quite understand what—or who— Easter is about. https://t.co/kP7FaU3GB2
— Karen (@DrKPirnieFunk) April 17, 2022
Trumps are deadly serious.They hide behind “we’re just joking” or “we’re just trolling libs” but they believe violence or the threat of violence is their primary organizing tool & their “super power.” This won’t make Democrats go crazy but should get us to vote in record numbers. https://t.co/vh2N4b4EPq
— Robert McNamara (@romc) April 17, 2022
Exactly. The cult of toxic "masculinity" which hides weakness behind weapons and encourages violence against anyone with whom they disagree https://t.co/XcfN2V7DPZ
— KSelk (@ecrire831) April 17, 2022
Junior made the post on a weekend that saw three separate mass shootings in the United States.
To post something like that after three mass shootings really identifies him as the lowest of the low https://t.co/JqGkV12Dej
— Barbara Othmer (@OthmerBarbara) April 18, 2022
I just saw on the news that the US had "multiple mass shootings" over the weekend. https://t.co/t7s9q4OoFb
— 🐾Super Dawny 🇺🇦 (@super_dawny) April 18, 2022
@DonaldJTrumpJr how many mass shootings throughout the USA?
How many children have been killed by Putin’s war on Ukraine?
You are devoid of humanity! https://t.co/E8tLgOJrBW
— RogueMosaique🌊🌊🌊 (@mosaique813) April 18, 2022
Junior doesn't seem to care.