Thoughts and Prayers in Politics
“Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.” Do Thought and Prayers from Politicians mouths have any impact on reducing national calamities?
“Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.”
–Unknown, (Reuters)
In the past, former President Donald Trump used the phrase “thoughts and prayers” after several national tragedies. From the 2016 St. Joseph courthouse shooting to the Marshall County High School shooting in 2018. Trump further mentioned thoughts and prayers shortly after the YouTube headquarters shooting. Following the 2019 El Paso massacre, he tweeted, “…Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas.” Trump continued the expression after the Capital Gazette shooting and following several other mainstream horrific events.
Absurdly, Trump simultaneously sent out thoughts and prayers, all while pushing for less restricted gun laws. Laws that enable potential mass shooters access to semiautomatic weapons and endless ammo. Specific guns that still killed precious life as thoughts and prayers all came a little too late.
Trump’s backlash for his idle sentimental tweets prompted him to eventually coin a different phrase. Following the Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, Trump instead sent out “prayers and condolences” via Twitter. Not that the expression is much different or that his euphemism changed any laws.
Fast forward to April 8, 2021, President Biden gave a speech at the Rose Garden addressing Gun Violence. His remarks on that day resonated with many frustrated American citizens. The same Americans who see thoughts and prayers as a form of non-intervention. Especially by politicians who used thoughts and prayers as a crutch in the past.
“Whether Congress acts or not, I’m going to use all the resources at my disposal as President to keep the American people safe from gun violence. But there’s much more that Congress can do to help that effort. And they can do it right now.
They’ve offered plenty of thoughts and prayers — members of Congress — but they’ve passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence. Enough prayers. Time for some action.” — President Joe Biden, whitehouse.gov
Biden was relatively careful not to use the phrase “thoughts and prayers” after national tragedies. Especially since he took office as sitting President, however, he was recently guilty of the exact sentiment to the inhabitants of the U.K. shortly after Queen Elizabeth II’s death. On September 8, 2022, Biden gave a speech at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Forest Heights, Maryland. Biden began the speech with, “the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in their grief.”
Former President Barack Obama was no less guilty of preaching the sentiment post-mass shootings as well. In fact, Obama was known for overusing the term “thoughts and prayers.” He was heard mentioning the expression after nearly every mass shooting during his seat in the Whitehouse. He spoke the phrase so frequently that he finally addressed the sentiment itself. On November 28, 2015, following the Planned Parenthood massacre, Obama said:
“This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal. If we truly care about this — if we’re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience — then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough.”
It’s important to note that the definition of “mass shootings” seems highly subjective and depends on the author’s narrative. Regardless, there do appear to be around 40 mass shootings during the Obama administration that had nationwide media attention. According to sources, the number of mainstream mass shootings significantly increased while Trump was President.
Even so, it would be incorrect to think Biden, Trump, and Obama were the only officials offering “thoughts and prayers” post-tragedy. The Atlantic’s 2017 article, “What Science Says About “Thoughts and Prayers,” reveals different. The number of times elected officials used the expression was precisely 4,139 times. And that’s only a tally from 1995 to 2017. Though the phrase is intuitive to say after tragic events, teen death by gun increased to seven per day. (nytimes.com)
Since the 1995–1996 Second Amendment Restoration Act, the amended law only gave birth to the term “mass shooting.” The law specifically lifted “the ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices.” If rapid-fire weapons were not so easily accessible, then perhaps the “death rate” would fall back to where it was before 1995. Changing the law back would not eliminate mass casualties because semiautomatic weapons now saturate the land. Be that as it may, it would be a step in the right direction toward reducing death rates. Without intervention, death rates will inevitably increase otherwise.
Before every Presidential election, a substantial increase in semiautomatic weapons and ammunition sales from uneasy citizens occurs. The additional firearm sales before elections happen no matter who runs for office. These paranoid purchases never help reduce access to bloodbath firearms.
Regardless, the 1995 repeal indicates that no matter the President, mass shootings occur nonetheless. And whether the President is on the right or the left, they all use sentiments after mainstream tragedies. Despite the expression that a President uses, gun violence and tragedy are still rising. For all that, thoughts and prayers seemingly do not reduce national calamities.