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Details are still spilling in regarding the fatal mid-air collision that took place in the skies above Washington D.C. last night, but it’s already started numerous conversations with people pointing the finger at President Donald Trump.
Politicizing a tragedy
Many online have been quick to say that the tragic accident should not be politicized — and while making a political statement out of a tragic event may seem insensitive, it’s worth noting that more disasters such as this could happen thanks to Trump’s irresponsible decision. Besides, those coming in to defend Trump now didn’t seem to have an issue with a tragedy being used to score political points back when Joe Biden was the scapegoat.
For those who don’t know, I’m referring to the Baltimore bridge collapse, which occurred in March last year and resulted in six deaths. The cause of the incident was a ship colliding with one of the bridge’s piers after losing power while travelling down the Patapsco River. In the days following the disaster, Republicans attempted to pin the blame on Biden, with Nancy Mace blaming the lack of investment in roads and bridges for the disaster. In reality, I think it was more to do with a ship weighing tens of thousands of tons crashing into it.
Regardless, Republicans tried to turn this accident into political ammunition even though Biden could not have done anything to prevent it. Now people are doing the same with Trump.
Many are taking a leaf out of Nancy Mace’s book by pinning the disaster on the current president.
Now, is this fair? Can Donald Trump be directly blamed for this accident? Well, it is his name on the memo that ordered the dismantling of all advisory committees last week. This included the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, oh, and he also fired the head of the TSA – a decision which was seen as putting “aviation security at risk.”
Arguably not a very smart decision, and one that Trump should know would have put lives at risk due to poor attentiveness. However, nobody expected the necessity of these oversight committees and roles to be proven so soon. Literally within a week of Trump’s decision, we’ve seen the worst air disaster in the U.S. since 9/11, with 60 passengers, (including the young figure skater Spencer Lane), four plane crew members, and three people in the helicopter all confirmed dead.
To blame Trump directly for this specific incident might not be fair; we still don’t have all the details, and there’s nothing to suggest his decision led to this disaster. However, his callous attitude towards the organizations and bodies that were designed specifically to keep the sky above America safe will possibly result in more incidents just like this one.
This man is a loose cannon; even his initial response to the disaster was tone-deaf and not at all becoming of a man who’s supposed to be a leader figure for the country.
The Potomac River mid-air collision serves as a deadly example of why it’s important to ensure that the TSA and the Aviation Security Advisory Committee not only stick around, but are properly invested so that we can make sure that another accident like this does not happen again.