Trump's Son Releases T-Shirts Reading “Guns Don’t Kill People, Alec Baldwin Kills”

Baldwin and Trump had a feud over the show “Saturday Night Live.”

Supporters of former US President Donald Trump used an accident on the set of the film “Rust,” during which Alec Baldwin accidentally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, to attack the actor. For several years he parodied Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” 

T-shirts

The former president’s eldest son, businessman Donald Trump Jr., began selling T-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts on his website bearing the slogan “Guns don’t kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people.” 

Forbes reports that the items appeared on the website on October 24, three days after the shooting on the film set. T-shirts with this slogan cost $28, hoodies $40, and sweatshirts $45. 

In an Instagram story, Trump Jr. posted a photoshopped image of Baldwin wearing such a T-shirt. In one post on the social network, he wondered why Baldwin, who had previously spoken out against the National Rifle Association of America, had not studied the basics of safe gun handling. 

In another post, he replied to those who asked to leave the actor alone. According to him, the actor “would be the first to urinate on everyone’s grave” if the situation were reversed. 

Other Attacks on Baldwin

Donald Trump's son has joined Trump supporters who are attacking Baldwin after the incident on the set. For example, political activist and conservative commentator Candace Owens wrote on Twitter (and later deleted the post) that what happened to Baldwin was “an example of poetic justice” after the actor “for four years portrayed Donald Trump and his supporters as vicious murderers.” 

Lauren Boebert, a member of the House of Representatives from the state of Colorado, commented on the shooting on the set and posted a screenshot of a message from Baldwin dated May 12, 2014. In it, the actor suggested releasing T-shirts with the slogan “My hands are up. Please don’t shoot me.” 

The actor posted this message after police officers opened fire on several unarmed Black people. Boebert asked whether these T-shirts were still available, adding: “Asking for a producer...” In another post, she wrote that “a woman was killed by Alec’s reckless and ignorant actions.” 

Thousands of posts with the hashtag #AlecForPrison (#AlecBehindBars) have already been published on Twitter itself. Republican Senate candidate JD Vance appealed to the platform’s founder Jack Dorsey and proposed restoring Donald Trump's account so that he could comment on what happened to Baldwin. Trump himself, who has been barred from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter since January, has not publicly commented on the shooting.  

Baldwin vs. Trump

Actor Alec Baldwin is known for his parodies of Donald Trump in the comedy show “Saturday Night Live” on NBC. He portrayed Trump before the 2016 presidential election and during his presidency. The now former US president did not like the show and often criticized Baldwin over the parodies. 

In February 2018, Baldwin portrayed Trump in a parody of a press conference where the president declared a national emergency in the US in order to secure funding for building a wall on the border with Mexico. After the show aired, Trump said that “there is nothing funny about the tired ‘Saturday Night Live’” and asked how NBC gets away with such attacks on Republicans. He also added that “dishonest and corrupt media are enemies of the people”

Baldwin responded by asking: “I wonder if a sitting president who says that because of my role in a television comedy I become an enemy of the people poses a threat to my safety and the safety of my family?”.

In March 2018, Trump sharply commented on Baldwin's words after the actor said that playing Trump in the show had been “torture” for him. He wrote on Twitter, deliberately misspelling the actor's name: “Alex Baldwin, whose dying mediocre career was saved by his parody of me on SNL, now says playing Trump was torture for him. Alex, it was also torture for those forced to watch. You were terrible.” 

In response, Baldwin said that despite his anguish, he would like to wait for the impeachment hearings and Trump's resignation.