Washington – It was the type of moment when Americans traditionally turn to a comfort leader: crying the loss of 67 people killed when a commercial airliner and a military helicopter collided on Washington’s sky.
And when Donald Trump On Thursday, the podium of the briefing room of the White House to fulfill his role as chief console, he started his remarks by asking for a moment of silence in honor of the victims and their families.
But shortly after the end of silent reflection, Trump attacks, blaming the tragedy on his two democratic predecessors and their accent Diversity in hiringWhich, according to him, had lowered standards for air traffic controllers.
Trump did not provide evidence to support his statements. When a journalist has pressed him on the way he could indicate diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices as the reason for the accident, he retaliated: “Because I have common sense . “
Bind nation injuries during tragedy
Americans have often turned to their leaders during tragedy, hoping that they can help bind the injuries of the nation and have a sense of events that are often foolish.
Ronald Reagan praised the heroism of astronauts condemned on board the Spatial shuttle challengerWho was killed when the plane exploded shortly after takeoff in 1986. “We will never forget them,” he said during a television address on the oval office, recalling how they prepared for Their journey and “slipped the bonds of the earth to touch the face of God.
Looking back:“Oh my God, no!” Spatial shuttle challenger exploded 39 years ago
After terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, George W. BushOnly eight months of his presidency, stood at the top of the even more solminant rubble of the World Trade Center, Bullhorn in hand, and promised aid promised to sort the debris: “I can hear you!” The rest of the world hears you! And the people who have overturned these buildings will all hear us all. »»
Barack Obama wiped tears while it was crying the “beautiful little children” killed during a mass shot on Sand hook Connecticut primary school in 2012. “These children are OUR children, ”he said.
Trump, however, sometimes offered a different approach to his role as a duvet to a nation struck with sorrow. During his first mandate, and at other times before entering politics, Trump used moments of national mourning to highlight a political point or to approach his criticism.
In 2016, during his first campaign for the White House, Trump criticized Obama after a shooter who promised an allegiance to the Islamic State opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others. Trump condemned Obama for not having said the words “radical Islam” and urged him to resign from his functions.
When 11 people were killed in a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, Trump, then in his first mandate, seemed to suggest that less would have died if they had weapons or if an armed guard had been on the spot. “If they had a kind of protection inside the temple, it might have been a very different situation,” he said.
A year later, Trump scored 18th Anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 with dark expressions and political attacks. He started in the morning by going to Twitter and publishing a photo of himself and the first lady Melania Trump seeming to think about the birthday. “We will never forget,” says the legend.
Ten minutes later, Trump embarked on a Criticism on Twitter From the president of the federal reserve, Jerome Powell, who, according to him, should reduce interest rates and against one of his lasting targets – the media – on a new poll which showed him to lose in a hypothetical race against Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.
Then last week, barely three days after his second term, Trump targeted California while devastating forest fires ravaged the state. Asset threatened to hold fires Relief unless California reduces water to the southern part of the state.
“I don’t think we should give anything in California until they let the water run there,” he said.
DC plan crash:Cartography of the flight trajectories that put the jet and the helicopter on a collision trajectory
Sympathy and politics
On Wednesday evening, only two hours after the American Airlines 5342 flight and a Black Hawk Army Black Collid Med Air helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and plunged into the Potomac freezing river, Trump already seemed to be to blame.
In a press release published on his social platform Truth, he quoted La Nuit Claire and wondered why the helicopter had not left the Airline route. “Why didn’t the control tower say to the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane,” Trump asked. “This is a bad situation that seems to have been prevented. Not good !!!“”
He went even further Thursday morning during remarks to the White House, suggesting that Obama and the former president Joe Biden were at fault because they had pushed the diversity to hire when they were in power. He had particularly harsh words to Pete ButtigiegWho as a transport secretary of Biden was in charge of the Federal Aviation Administration.
“This guy is a real winner,” said Trump sarcastically. “Do you know how much everything has taken place since he managed the Ministry of Transport?” It is a disaster. He was a disaster as mayor – he ran his city in the ground – and he is now a disaster. »»
FUTTIGIEG,, The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, quickly returned the fire.
“Despicable,” he said about Trump’s comments, writing on X: “While families cry, Trump should lead, not lie.”
“No survivors”:What to know about DC Plane Crash passengers
Others have also rejected.
“It’s one thing for Internet experts to spit conspiracy theories,” wrote the Democrat chief of the Senate, Chuck Schumer are always informed. It turns your stomach.
Derrick Johnson, president of NAACP, criticized Trump for “non -identifying and dividing behavior” and said that he used “the highest functioning of the country to sow hatred rooted in lies”.
Empathy overviews
In the midst of Trump’s attacks and conjecture on what was wrong, there were times during his 35 -minute morning briefing when the president showed that American empathy expected their leaders in time crisis.
“We are in mourning,” he said about the collision of planes, adding: “It really shaken many people.”
Trump congratulated the first stakeholders for “phenomenal work” and cried the loss of Russian artistic skaters who were one of the foreign nationals on theft.
“Our hearts are broken alongside yours,” he said.
A few hours later, however, Trump was back in attack mode.
In the oval office, when he was asked if he thought that race or sex played a role in the collision of the tunes, Trump replied: “It may be. I don’t know. The incompetence could have played a role. »»
When a journalist asked if he planned to visit the accident site, he replied: “You tell me: what is the site? Water? Do you want me to swim?”
Michael Collins writes on the White House. Follow it on x @MCollinsNews.