Celebrities including Rosie O’Donnell, Kerry Washington and Lena Dunham took to Twitter on Thursday, April 6, to voice their thoughts after President Donald Trump launched a missile attack on Syria.
The former reality-TV star spoke to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, telling them that he had approved a military strike in Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on civilians on Tuesday, April 4. Watch his impassioned address in the video above.
The Pentagon announced that U.S. ships in the Mediterranean launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles that struck the Al Shayrat airfield in Syria that is believed to have been where the chemical weapons were launched, the New York Times reported.
“On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,” Trump said in his speech on Thursday. “Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the life of innocent men, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many, even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. No child of God should ever suffer such horror.”
“It is in this vital, national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council,” he added.
“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically. As a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen, and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies,” Trump continued. “Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria. And also, to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”
Celebrities and politicians took to social media to respond to the military action, with some, including comedian D.L. Hughley referring to Trump’s contentious travel ban that sought to stop Syrian refugees from entering the U.S.
“If you support bombing Syria because they attacked with Chemical Weapons, but u supported banning Syrian refugees ur a f–kin hypocrite,” he tweeted.
Other celebs also expressed their opinions on Twitter, with the real estate mogul’s longtime foe O’Donnell writing, “he thinks he is on the apprentice — with his fake set in florida — like qvc — like palin had in Alaska — a taped message w/bad audio — WTHF.”
“Trump on Syria: ‘No child of God should suffer such horror. BUT NO WAY, NOPE. THEY CAN’T COME HERE,” tweeted George Takei.
“Wait. What?!” wrote Washington. “Heartbreaking.”
“The only thing to tweet right now is a prayer for peace and safety,” Dunham tweeted.
Read more celeb reactions below.
