Backlash Follows After Social Media Posts About Accident
The mid-air collision at Reagan National Airport is a tragedy of staggering proportions. An American Airlines flight, carrying 64 passengers from Kansas, collided with a Blackhawk Army helicopter on its approach to the airport. As of the latest reports, there are no confirmed survivors. At least 19 bodies have been recovered from the freezing waters of the Potomac River, but the full scope of this disaster is still unfolding.
In times like these, one would hope that the focus would be on search-and-rescue efforts, supporting the families of the victims, and determining what went wrong to ensure such an event never happens again. And yet, before the wreckage had even settled, certain corners of the liberal media rushed to assign blame—not to the complex realities of air traffic, not to technical failures, but directly to President Donald Trump.
You will burn in hell you ghoul https://t.co/8HYZmnUJ6B
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) January 30, 2025
The reasoning? A series of administrative firings within the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, and other aviation-related agencies. Never mind that aviation safety in the U.S. has long been considered the gold standard. Never mind that collision-avoidance technology has been a mandated feature of commercial aircraft since the 1990s. No, for these media figures, the crash simply had to be a consequence of Trump’s leadership.
Among those quickest to exploit the tragedy was liberal journalist Aaron Rupar, who suggested that reductions in the federal workforce were to blame. Others, grasping at any available straw, even attempted to pin responsibility on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The rush to politicize this tragedy speaks volumes about how deeply Trump derangement syndrome has permeated certain factions of the media.
CNN’s Bakari Sellers initially joined in the blame game, only to swiftly delete his post after, presumably, receiving a call from his network. In a follow-up statement, he admitted his mistake but made sure to package his apology in broader frustration about “where we are as a country.” The implication? That somehow, in an undefined but deeply partisan way, this tragic event still fits into a larger narrative of political failure.
First responders are still searching for survivors in the Potomac River from the DCA plane crash and left wingers on X are already tweeting their fact and context free hot takes to get likes and reposts in a ghoulish effort to score cheap political points. pic.twitter.com/okdM5FWnA8
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 30, 2025
However, amidst the noise, there were moments of sober reflection. CNN aviation analyst Pete Muntean was one of the few voices to bring a serious, grounded perspective to the situation. He pointed out that U.S. aviation safety has remained unparalleled for decades, with no major commercial airline crash fatalities since 2009. He highlighted the rigorous training of pilots, the advanced anti-collision technology aboard commercial jets, and the overall reliability of the nation’s air traffic system.
Muntean also noted that while this tragedy is unprecedented, it fits into a troubling pattern of near-misses at major U.S. airports that have been occurring with increasing frequency since 2023. This, he suggested, could mark a turning point in aviation safety. The circumstances surrounding this crash will undoubtedly be scrutinized, and if necessary, reforms will follow.