Criticism Mounts Over Trump’s Passive Response to Potomac Mid-Air Collision
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
President Donald Trump’s reaction to the mid-air collision over the Potomac River has drawn sharp criticism, with The Atlantic’s David A. Graham arguing that Trump’s reliance on his own “common sense” highlights his aversion to facts and decisive action.
In his latest article, Graham portrays Trump as a passive leader more focused on rhetoric than responsibility, suggesting that his approach to governance is built more on slogans like “Make America Great Again” than actual leadership. Graham specifically pointed to Trump’s late-night TruthSocial post about the crash, in which the president speculated about what went wrong without any factual basis:
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It was a CLEAR NIGHT, and 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!!!”
While Trump’s questions may reflect what many people are wondering, Graham argues that the difference is Trump is the one person in government who has the power to get real answers. “He raises some valid points—ones that many people might be wondering about themselves,” Graham writes.
“The difference between them and him is that he is the leader of the federal government, able to marshal unparalleled resources to get answers about a horror that happened just two and a half miles from his home. He’s the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces, and the crash involved an Army helicopter. But Trump isn’t really interested in doing things. Like Chauncey Gardiner, the simple-minded protagonist of Being There, he likes to watch.”
Instead of directing a thorough investigation or addressing the nation with reassurance, Trump turned to social media with speculation and exclamation marks. Graham argues this is emblematic of his hands-off style, one that prioritizes optics over action.
“It would be nice to see the president doing something more than watching cable news and posting about it,” he writes. Graham also contrasts Trump’s response to past presidents, particularly Ronald Reagan’s address after the Challenger disaster, in which he memorably honored the astronauts:
“Almost exactly 39 years ago, after the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger, President Ronald Reagan memorably described how the astronauts aboard had ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’ Trump is giving us ‘NOT GOOD!!!'”
As the investigation into the crash continues, critics argue that Trump’s reaction reflects a broader pattern—one where he deflects responsibility, speculates from afar and avoids taking meaningful action in moments of national tragedy.
