transportation

Trump’s disaster playbook: Blame Democrats and politicize tragedy

“I have common sense and unfortunately a lot of people don’t,” the president told reporters.

“As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly,” President Donald Trump said. | Alex Brandon/AP

By Adam Wren, Myah Ward and Sophia Cai

01/30/2025 11:41 AM EST

Updated: 01/30/2025 03:52 PM EST

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Donald Trump has a long record of politicizing disasters for his own benefit. And his press conference Thursday discussing in stark, politicized terms the worst air disaster in nearly two decades was no different.

In prepared remarks after asking for a moment of silence for the 67 passengers believed to have been killed and their families, Trump’s muscle memory for laying the blame for tragedies at the feet of his political enemies flashed back to life.

Before the identities of the victims had even been released, and while the National Transportation Safety Board was still in the earliest stages of its investigation into the collision, Trump blamed Democrats and suggested diversity, equity and inclusion practices were to blame for the plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that he deemed a “tragedy of terrible proportions.”

The dichotomy between the apparent advice of his own advisers and Trump’s own pugilistic instincts was on full display. Not long after he said “differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all, both as Americans and even as nations,” he almost immediately dialed up those differences.

He blamed former........

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