President Donald Trump disregarded the warnings and snuck a peek at the eclipse without his glasses on. He didn't go blind, but Twitter still noticed ...
On Monday, the Washington, D.C. area got to witness a partial eclipse. While the nation's capital did not get to see a total solar eclipse, that didn't stop people from looking to the sky to see the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. Scientists and government agencies spent the week leading up to the eclipse warning people not to look directly at the sun. Even a partially eclipsed sun can cause permanent retina damage and could make you go blind. Only people in the path of totality, or those with partial cloud cover, could get away with looking at the eclipse with the naked eye. President Donald Trump decided to test that theory and challenge the sun itself. Walking onto the Roosevelt Balcony to observe the eclipse, First Lady Melania and son Barron donned their NASA-approved eclipse glasses. The President, however, decided to take a peek skyward to see what all the fuss was about.
As the cable news channels covered the first family eclipse-gazing, the President was seen squinting directly at the sun before looking back down and putting on his eclipse glasses. President Trump didn't stare long enough to go blind, but many on the internet hoped that he did ...
Immediately, social media erupted with people poking fun at the President for breaking the cardinal rule of eclipses.
https://twitter.com/Dan_Anstey/status/899890281742344192
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/899733758278074370
https://twitter.com/JPellegrini1983/status/899738720164818944
Many of the quips centered on the President's allegations that mainstream media outlets constitute "fake news." I'm pretty sure most people snuck a peek of the sun without glasses to see what all the fuss was about ...
The President's supporters took it in stride and immediately started pumping out eclipse memes.
The worst overreaction, however, came after Fox News host Tucker Carlson joked that President Trump's decision to stare directly into the sun without safety glasses was "perhaps the most impressive thing any president has done."
Not everyone recognized the deadpan humor. GQ went a bit overboard ...
Mondays's eclipse was actually one of the few things this year that was able to bring the entire country together. For just a few minutes, people were able to put their differences aside and just look to the sky. Americans stood side by side and marveled at the majesty of the universe.
A day later, the media was back to the same partisan grind. I want off this planet.
