Donald Trump popped off overnight about a collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River.
The American Airlines flight carrying 60 passengers, including members of U.S. Figure Skating, and four crew members from Wichita, Kansas, collided Wednesday night with an Army Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on board, and first responders have recovered at least 30 bodies from the water near Reagan National Airport, and the president reacted about three hours later.
"The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport," Trump posted on Truth Social. "The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!"
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The nation's worst crash since February 2009 remains under investigation at a time of great upheaval in the relevant agencies, following the Jan. 20 resignation of Mike Whitaker as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Transportation secretary Sean Duffy was sworn in only a day before the crash and defense secretary Pete Hegseth was on Saturday.
Trump's insight into the crash did not inspire much confidence among other social media users.
"I guess this is better than Trump saying 'this situation should not have been prevented, figure-skating children are the new al Qaeda and this war will demand sacrifices from us all,'" posted journalist Robert Evans.
"If this plane crash had happened four months ago, Trump would be insisting it was caused by DEI hires and blaming the Biden administration repeatedly, while the media credulously amplified the lies," said journalist Noah Berlatsky. "Making up claims like that is irresponsible and horrible, not least because it's painful for the families involved. It certainly seems like Ds could point out that Trump is gutting federal capacity, and that will lead to many more accidents like this one, though."
"I'm not blaming Trump for last night's crash but imagine if Biden fired 100 FAA officers a week prior to a plane crash," added the Krassentstein brothers, a pair of online influencers. "What would Fox News cover for the next two weeks?"
"The head of the FAA had imposed fines on Musk and SpaceX for violating air safety regulations," said Bluesky user DianaResists. "Musk forced the FAA head to resign because he 'over-regulated' air safety requirements. At the time of the Potomac plane crash Trump had not replaced the FAA Administrator."
"If Trump's freeze on federal funding caused the airplane crash in Wash DC, then Trump should be criminally investigated for murder," posted SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah. "Same for Trump's Secty of Defense. Their actions appear to have killed Americans."
"This is not what the President of the United States should be doing right now. Not now," said former Republican congressman Joe Walsh. "And if you can’t understand why this is not what he should be doing right now, then I feel sorry for you. My God, he is such an utterly horrible human being."
"Dems should call for immediate hearings on what caused tonight’s plane crash, including the impact of the removal of FAA safety protocols and personnel," added Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand.
"The head of the FAA, Mike Whitaker, resigned on January 20 — one year into his 5 year term — after facing relentless criticism from Musk for not approving SpaceX missions quickly enough. The Senate confirmed him unanimously in 2023," said journalist Judd Legum. "No acting FAA head has been appointed. The FAA is currently subject to a hiring freeze and staff received an email, 'A fork in the road,' encouraging them to resign regardless of their job responsibilities."
"Think about this and how Fox and the GOP would politicize an Army helicopter crashing into a commercial airplane days after a Black woman president tried to gut air safety & installed the least qualified man ever as Defense Secretary," posted journalist and historian Garrett Graff. "THAT is the degree to which Dems should politicize this crash."
I just want to know why Pete Hegseth has yet to show up before a camera -- whatever the cause of the accident, the Black Hawk would have had more ability to avert it," added attorney Marcy Wheeler. "Was he drunk in a gutter when this went down?"
