President Donald Trump has degraded the dignity of his office with his racially charged comments about the devastating American Airlines plane crash in Washington, D.C., Democratic pollster and strategist Cornell Belcher posted to Threads on Friday.
During his news conference on the matter, Trump suggested, without evidence, that the midair collision between a regional jet and an Army helicopter — the first deadly accident involving a commercial U.S. aircraft since 2009 — might be due to "diversity" programs at the Federal Aviation Administration, sparking immediate outrage.
Belcher in particular had a few choice words for the president.
ALSO READ: Top GOPer's ‘most immediate’ priority for new committee includes probing a MAGA conspiracy
"America deserves better than what we witnessed this morning from Trump," wrote Belcher. "To use this tragedy to push a blatant ugly racial political agenda is absolutely appalling. It’s not ok. It’s abhorrent. It’s unimaginable that a President would stand before us and dishonor the role of the office this way. Not us."
"Let’s be unison and loud about how unacceptable it is to use national tragedies to divide us," he concluded.
In response to Trump's claims, some lawmakers have noted that if the federal government needs to be held accountable, it's over the fact that the nation's air traffic control systems and aviation safety agencies face a staffing crunch after tech billionaire Elon Musk pushed Trump to clear them out.
This comes as the president faces other criticisms over how he handled the disaster, including complaining he would have to "go swimming" to visit the crash site.
