'Trump uses cue card to remind himself to say 'I hear you'

'Trump uses cue card to remind himself to say 'I hear you'



President Donald Trump held a cue card between his hands that reminded him to offer sympathy as he met with victims and families of the Florida high school massacre on Wednesday. 



A photo from the event shows Trump holding what appears to be a piece of paper with the White House letterhead.



Point number five is clearly visible - a reminder to himself to tell his guests: 'I hear you.' Other questions that were also visible on the card included: 'What would you most want me to know about your experience?' and 'What can we do to help you feel safe?'



It seems the president had to remind himself to tell the dozens of guests who had been directly impacted by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week, which left 17 dead, including 14 children, that he was listening to their concerns.



At the same event, the President put forward a proposal to arm up to a fifth of teachers.



After listening from a circle of participants, Trump floated his own idea, calling for arming teachers and coaches, and even bringing in Marines.



'Lets say you had 20 percent of your teaching force, because that’s pretty much the number' Trump said, describing how it might work





Trump said the teachers with g*ns would be 'adept at firearms' and would get 'great training.'



Trump also mentioned Marines, saying those armed on a sprawling campus like the one in Parkland, Florida would be 'spread evenly,' rather than having a single security guard.



He acknowledged it was a contr*versial idea. 'We can understand both sides. Certainly it's contr*versial,' he said. 



Trump complained that the shooter 'should have been nabbed.'



But with teachers and coaches armed, 'That would've been the end of it.' 



Trump didn't appear to actually use the visible prompts at any point during the meeting, but did remember to cast a tender tone.



'To me there can be nothing worse than what you've gone through,' he told the victims, before bringing up reforms to the system that his administration had backed publicly.



He told the survivors of the shooting and their parents that he grieved for them during the listening session at the White House, in which many of the guests implored the president to take immediate action on g*n violence. 



The meeting came as thousands of high schoolers held walkouts and protests around the country to bring attention to g*n control. 



Parkland parent Andrew Pollack, who is an avid Trump supporter, told the president he was 'pissed' as he described his daughter Meadow's horrific d*ath to the president and other families present - she was shot nine times.



'I'm very angry that this happened, because it keeps happening,' the bereaved father said, declaring that 9/11 'happened once, and they fixed everything. How many schools, how many children have to get shot?'



Pollack told Trump, 'It stops here with this administration and me. I'm not going to sleep until it's fixed. And Mr. President, we're going to fix it. Because I'm going to fix it. I'm not going to rest.



'Fix it! It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it! And I'm pissed! Because my daughter I'm not going to see again. She's not here. She's not here. She's at, in North Lauderdale, in King David Cemetery. That's where I go to see my kid now.'





After listening to parents like Pollack for some time, Trump said he'd be looking at making concealed carry permits available to teachers, which he admitted after asking for a show of support is certainly 'controversial.'



Trump also endorsed stricter background checks and pledged his administration to considering age limits for the purchase of semi-automatic rifles like the one the Parkland shooter used and new measures to treat mentally ill individuals. 



'We're going to pick out the strongest ideas, the most important ideas, the ideas that are going to work and we're going to get them done,' the president said. 'It's not going to be talk, like it's been in the past. It's going on too long. Too many instances. And we're going to get it done.'



Parkland parent Carey Gruber pleaded with Trump to abandon partisan politics and take up reforms that will prevent shootings like the one that could have killed his son Justin.





'It's not left and right, it's a human issue, and we have to stop this,' Gruber told the Republican president.



President Trump was holding his first of two listening sessions at the White House this week on the topic of school safety.



The discussion with parents and teachers connected to the Parkland, Florida, shooting included more than a dozen student survivors who also urged Trump to take action.