Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump Jokes About ‘Bad Hair Day’ After Pittsburgh Synagogue Rampage

President Trump joked about his “bad hair day” after being forced to stop to talk to reporters in the rain about the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in which 11 people were killed.

After briefly mentioning the shooting, Trump displayed a shocking lack of tact by quickly pivoting to his own appearance at an Indianapolis political rally.

Trump warned the crowd that he was not his properly coiffed self because the windswept Nor’easter wreaked havoc with his hair before he boarded Air Force One in Washington D.C.

The president said unnamed advisers had urged him to scrap the Indiana event and a later rally in Illinois out of respect for the dead and wounded in Pittsburgh.

But he said he rejected their advice because cancelling the political rallies would signal that the hate-filled gunman would have “won.” Trump then joked that the only reason he considered cancelling the rallies were because of his hair mishap.

He went on to tick off familiar GOP election talking points about trade and tariffs, which he claimed are benefitting American farmers.

Then he called two local Republican congressmen to the stage for rounds of applause, and derided House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Later, he took to Twitter to strike a more presidential tone over the attack.

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.