'Womp, Womp': Lewandowski Epitomizes Trump Team's Cruelty After Told of Down Syndrome Child Separated From Her Mother

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (left) appeared on Fox News Monday night and let viewers see just how cruel and heartless this gang of people truly is. (Photo: Fox News/Screenshot)

'Womp, Womp': Lewandowski Epitomizes Trump Team's Cruelty After Told of Down Syndrome Child Separated From Her Mother

A distillation of "Trumpian cruelty," said one. Among "the most inhumane moments I've ever seen," said another.

Corey Lewandowski, top-level surrogate and former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, offered the world a revealing moment on Tuesday night when he issued a sarcastic fake cry in the form of "womp, womp" after a fellow guest on Fox News referenced a story of a ten-year-old girl with down syndrome being taken from her mother as part of the Trump administration's family separation policy--a practice whose cruelty has sparked national, and global, outrage over recent days.

Watch:

Witnesses to the exchange, and the millions who later watched the clip as it spread virally on social media, could hardly contain their shock even as the issuance of shocking and heartless comments--especially towards immigrants--have become rather commonplace among the president and his closest allies.

Even as Chris Hayes was reporting from outside a child detention center in Texas, the MSNBC journalist cut into his live coverage to show his viewers the clip:

As the clip spread, so did the outrage and outcry.

"One of the most inhumane moments I've ever seen," declared journalist Shaun King.

Columnist Jeet Heer, writing for The New Republic, argued the moment perfectly "distill[ed] Trumpian cruelty."

"In his obdurate cruelty in sticking to the party line of the moment as well as his childish reliance on sound effects," Jeer continued, "Lewandowski became the perfect emblem of Trump's immigration policy. If anyone wants a few seconds that capture the essence of the Trump administration's pigheadedness all they need to do is watch this exchange."

And watch they did. On Twitter, "Lewandowski"--who currently enjoys a fellowship position at Harvard University's Insitute of Politics--was officially trending and not in a good way:

It's accurate to say that Trump has offered his base wide permission to revel in the vitriol and dehumanizing cruelty he has aimed at non-white immigrants, but who would think that such abject cruelty would also be aimed at an innocent 10-year-old girl with down syndrome? Who would ever think it decent to show such indifference to those with disabilities?

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.