Top Republican scoffs at 'manchild' Trump’s tiger meme

President Donald Trump spent a lot of time on social media Tuesday night as he was leaving a rally in Alaska. In his flurry of posts and doomscrolling the U.S. president popped up a tacky little number that mocked the death of a man who did nothing to him.

Former child actor William Chapman was killed on October 10, 2026, after climbing a barrier into a Siberian tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in northern England. His family claims he suffered from extreme mental illness.

But Trump was quick to follow the pop culture wave behind the death to inflate his own ego, posting the statement “don't mess with nature.” Then, a few hours later, the president posted an AI-generate image of Trump himself rolling around and playing with a smiling tiger, to the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” by the Tokens.

“There's so much on his social media, it's not worth commenting on all of it. But this is, like, again, with the getting involved, inserting yourself into the death of another person. What is going on [with him?],” demanded MS NOW anchor Katy Tur of former GOP Party chairman Michael Steele Wednesday evening.

“The man has no empathetic bone in his body,” said Steele. “He has no appreciation for [the illness] that drove that man to do that, the man's family, or people in his community. He doesn't care.”

“Donald trump is an immature child, a man child. He spends his time doing this,” continued Steele, a Republican who grew to abhor Trump in his first term. “We just spent the last hour talking about some pretty weighty things. We talked about the impact that his policies are having on families, the impact it is having on his political party, which seemingly will lose control of at least one chamber, possibly two. And the war that he's committed the American community to. And this is what he does on Air Force One on his way home, post these little memes and images of himself [playing with] a tiger.”

Steele actually had considerably more things to say on the mortifying matter, but he told Tur he would have to “just text it to you,” because it was “very impolite,” and he did “not want to get in trouble with [broadcast] standards.”

But the cruelty of Trump’s post is actually in line with much of his mentality, say critics. Over the last few months, the president of the United States has been posting images of himself firing nuclear weapons at Earth from a spaceship, even though a handful of people in nine countries have the power to launch a nuclear war that could kill billions and destroy human civilization.

One forensic scientist said many of Trump’s videos, which appear devoid of human apathy are signs of not just mental deterioration but an existential threat. The impulsivity of a deteriorating mind, coupled with a lifetime of vindictiveness and an encroaching delusional state could prove a horror if Trump retains sole control of the nation’s military power with no guardrails.

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