Furious Americans have accused Donald Trump of having ‘no empathy’ for the victims of last week’s American Airlines tragedy after he appeared to make a light-hearted comment about the events during a news conference.
A journalist asked the Republican leader, 78, if he planned to visit the site of the incident in the coming days, and he appeared to react with a pointed joke.
American Airlines c.r.a.s.h explained
On Wednesday (29 January), an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four cabin crew collided with a military chopper, killing all on board.
The PSA Airlines engine (AA 5432) was prepared to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after flying from Witchita, Kansas when it collided with a Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 helicopter.
The helicopter had left Fort Belvoir, Virginia, hours earlier, and was carrying three people.
Witnesses to the tragic collision later told the press that both aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River, with the Mail adding that the American Airlines plane ‘split in half’.
Rescue teams were dispatched to look for survivors, both on boats and from the air, but in an update yesterday afternoon, DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly admitted that investigators ‘don’t believe there are any survivors’.
What did Donald Trump say?
In the hours following the announcement of the incident, Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to outline what he believed had transpired in the air, before questioning why the helicopter was not directed to move out of the plane’s flight path.
“Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane,” he initially penned.
“This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
Later, in a press conference televised yesterday (30 January), a reporter asked Trump if he had a ‘plan to go to the site’ where both aircraft collided.
Before the journalist could finish her remark, the President interrupted: “I have no plans to visit the site because – you tell me, what’s the site?”
He then appeared to jokingly say, “The water? You want me to go swimming?”
The reporter maintains her composure and asks, “To meet with the responders down there?”
“I don’t have a plan to do that,” Trump again interrupts.
Footage of the incident has already gone viral online, with many viewers accusing the controversial politician of showing ‘no empathy’ for those who d.i.e.d in the sky earlier this week.
Referring to his recent inauguration, which saw Trump sworn in as the 47th US President, one Instagram user remarked in reaction to the video: “We are only two weeks in, and I’m truly exhausted.”
Another hit out: “You know.. if nothing else, the blatant lack of self-awareness, empathy, compassion… SENSE is providing gentle comic relief amid the pure rage and unbearable sadness.”
“OMFG!” added a third. “I’m just at a loss, my brain is shutting down.”
“I can’t imagine grieving someone in this tragedy and hearing this absolute doorknob disrespect their death like that!” another penned.
A fifth continued: “I can’t even imagine how the families are feeling hearing this heartless statement from this felonious man.”
