Rantz: Tragic plane disaster brings out the best, and worst, of us

National tragedies, such as Wednesday night’s plane crash over the Potomac River, can unite a country in grief and anguish. After the devastating news of a Black Hawk helicopter colliding with an American Airlines regional plane, most people were struck by the heartbreaking loss of life and joined each other in prayer for the victims and their families. Unfortunately, such tragedies can also bring out the worst in people. That ugliness was on full display in the immediate aftermath of the plane crash.

Prominent CNN pundit Bakari Sellers seemed eager to quickly blame the plane crash on President Donald Trump. Sellers posted a screenshot of a press release titled, “Trump’s Dangerous Freeze of Air Traffic Control Hiring.” He offered the caption it “8 days ago.” He wasn’t alone in trying to turn this tragedy into a political gotcha game.

Aaron Rupar, a notorious social media troll who makes a living off engagement from truly disgusting takes, first pretended to care about the victims before making it political. He, too, posted a screenshot of a headline critical of Trump for making moves with an aviation security committee housed in the Department of Homeland Security.

These responses were ghoulish.

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The criticism wasn’t even relevant

What’s especially disgusting about the posts blaming Trump for the plane crash is that neither Sellars nor Rupar’s criticism was relevant. They were cheap, bad faith, and disingenuous smears.

The accident didn’t occur because of a freeze on hiring of air traffic controllers. Are we to believe that in eight days, there could have been a new hire, training, and assignment specifically to the tower at Regan National Airport that would have played any role in the disaster? Of course not.

Meanwhile, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee referenced by Rupar had little to do with the airline or helicopter safety that was relevant to the American Airlines disaster. The committee was formed in 1989 in response to the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing to strengthen collaboration between the federal government and the aviation industry. It was about security risks, not in-air safety. They focused on responding to evolving threats like terrorism, with a significant focus on cargo security, intelligence sharing, and passenger security.

If we should be placing blame on this administration or any other, there will be time for that. But when both Sellers and Rupar posted their cheap shots, they had next to no information at all.

Don’t exploit the plane crash for political points

Sellers would end up deleting his disgusting post, offering an apology.

“I deleted the post because timing matters. Politics at this point does not. I f****d up, I own that. I am very prayerful but I’m also very frustrated upset and disturbed with where we are as a country. I recognize, and I will do better,” he wrote, in part.

Whether or not he deleted it because he was getting rightly criticized or because he was truly apologetic doesn’t matter. He did the right thing. Rupar? He never does the right thing because he’s incentivized not to. His comments remain posted.

Ironically, Rupar is criticizing (rightly) Rep. Andy Ogles for wondering if DEI played a role in the crash. But Rupar doesn’t get to criticize others’ insensitive comments when he trolls for engagement off of his own.

Must anyone exploit the deaths of innocent passengers, crew, and soldiers just to take cheap shots? Can they not even wait ten minutes before shamelessly assigning blame for political gain or social media engagement? We all have the opportunity to show true compassion in the aftermath of the disaster. We should embrace that opportunity.

I understand Donald Trump’s point in bringing up how lowering standards could have played a role in this plane tragedy, but I don’t think this is the right time. He started his speech so powerfully. But now he’ll be criticized for the rest of his speech instead of being praised.

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 30, 2025

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