On November 28, 2016, a plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team went down near Medellin, Colombia, killing more than 70 people. That was the last time a commercial jet crashed anywhere in the world.
And who deserves credit for 2017 passing without a single jet airliner crash? President Trump does, President Trump says.
This is one of Trump’s most absurd attempts to take credit for something he has absolutely nothing to do with.
Flying has been getting safer for decades without Trump’s help, and even with more jets in the air, crashes have declined in recent years. In fact, a commercial jet hasn’t crashed in the U.S. since 2009. Trump’s tweet refers to a lack of global jet airliner crashes in 2017, something he has even less to do with than the lack of crashes in the U.S.
Not all planes that take off make a smooth landing though. On the last day of 2017, 10 Americans were killed in Costa Rica when a single-engine turboprop crashed. They were among 44 people killed in cargo and propellor-powered plane crashes last year.
But Trump’s tweet isn’t just disingenuous and crass. It’s also inaccurate. Far from being “strict” on aviation in 2017, Trump may have jeopardized the United States’ crash-less streak last year. Early in his presidency, he signed an order putting a 60 day moratorium on new government regulations, which hampered the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to issue safety orders. He also hosted airline executives in February and promised to change a “regulatory morass that’s a disaster.”
And there’s still one more thing wrong this this ridiculous tweet. Trump has now politicized plane crashes. Which means the next time one happens, we’re going to be ignoring the people who died and talking about Trump.
