A Kentucky teacher has been placed on unpaid leave following an insensitive comment about Saturday’s failed assassination attempt on former President Trump.
John James, an English professor at Bellarmine University, was placed on leave after a social media post in which he wrote: “If you’re gonna shoot, man, don’t miss.”
The comment was posted alongside a New York Times story reporting that Trump was safe after the assassination attempt that circulated on X, formerly Twitter.
Bellarmine, a Catholic university in Louisville, said words and actions that condone violence are “unacceptable and contrary to our values, which call for respecting the intrinsic worth and dignity of every individual.”
Mr James’ comment, which emerged from a screenshot taken from an Instagram story, which is designed to disappear within 24 hours, was Streamed by TikTok Libsa popular conservative social media account.
John James is an English professor at Bellarmine University in Kentucky. He was placed on unpaid leave after making a hateful comment about the recent assassination attempt on the former president.
The announcement came after her post was republished by the far-right TikTok account Libs on X
The account’s post garnered thousands of comments and millions of views.
Most of those who commented on the post said things like, “He should be fired. Period,” and “He’s not a good reflection of Catholic University. It would be a shame if enough people sent him to the dioceses that govern the school.”
It’s unclear how many people saw James’ original post on Instagram, where his page has since been deleted. His Facebook page is also inactive.
A university spokesperson said that once the post came to their attention, likely due to pressure from some of TikTok’s 3.2 million liberal followers, “that individual was immediately placed on unpaid leave.”
Part of the university’s mission statement, which commentators say contradicts Mr. James’s statement, says the goal of education is “to seek the true self, the interconnectedness of life and the solidarity of the human spirit, transcending ethnic, religious and social divisions.”
But one commentator said: “These people don’t care about human life. They only have contempt for those who don’t conform.”
Another said: ‘It’s pretty bold for an educator to say this. @bellarmineU Is this the kind of institution you run?’
Another said: “I am Catholic. This is not how I was raised or taught by the many nuns and priests who were involved in my upbringing.”
Bellarmine University is a small liberal arts university attended by about 3,900 students.
In 2021, 14 of those students reportedly graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English, the subject Mr. James teaches.
While James’ social media accounts have been deactivated, followers on Libs of TikTok said their goal was to “make him famous.”
Mr. James is far from the only citizen facing consequences for insensitive comments about the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
On Monday, Janiece Binns, a nurse at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, was fired after Libs of TikTok reposted her online post just hours after the attack that read, “I like it bro. Work on your skills” and called the would-be Trump assassin “the most hated idiot on the planet” for disappearing.
Her comments sparked a furious online backlash against the hospital, with many demanding she be removed from her position.
One user said: “Imagine receiving care from a woman who would wish you dead if you voted differently than her. That blows my mind after working with so many great nurses.”
And another said: “Can you imagine what she would do to a patient if she found out they were a Trump supporter? She should not be in a position to care for people when a human life means so little to her. Do better.”
Nurses must be impartial in their profession and treat all patients equally.
She has since deactivated her social media accounts and DailyMail.com is unable to reach her for comment.
President Trump came within millimeters of suffering a moral head wound when shots were fired at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew, 20, opened fire on the former president with an AR-style rifle from a rooftop 130 metres from the rally stage. He shot and killed a fan of the former president, a firefighter who protected his family from the gunfire.
Trump said of the attack: “I rarely look away from the crowd. If I hadn’t done that at that moment, well, we wouldn’t be talking today, would we?”
“The most incredible thing was that I not only turned around, but I turned around at exactly the right time and just the right amount,” he added, saying he survived “either by luck or by God.”
