CNN anchor Dana Bash spoke to a network aviation expert on Tuesday, who explained that there was no “common thread” linking recent plane crashes despite the repeated attempts of Democrats and media to create one. Bash even repeated the statement aloud before pivoting to suggest that there was one.
Bash spoke with aviation correspondent Pete Muntean on “Inside Politics” just ahead of a panel discussion on the issue, and he confirmed reports that a landing gear malfunction was the likely cause of the most recent crash in Toronto.
Repeating Muntean’s statement that there was “no common thread” connecting the crashes, Bash then executed a 180-degree turn and added a “but …”
“I’m back here with our fantastic panel. Let’s broaden it out a little bit to talk about what is going on here in Washington. As he said, there’s no thread between all of those except the obvious, which is that planes are crashing, which is frightening,” she began. “But this is happening against the backdrop of massive cuts across the federal government, including at the FAA.”
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Panelist Eli Stokols, White House and foreign policy correspondent for Politico, also weighed in on the issue.
“You know, you see planes crashing left and right … at some point people may connect the dots and they may come to blame this administration, this government, if they have just bulldozed their way through government, taken out a lot of expertise because people don’t really know what government does or is until it’s doing something for them or until it’s not there,” he said.
CNN is far from alone in the attempts to blame the Trump administration for recent crashes — and they’re only too happy to loop in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) whenever possible as well, arguing that staffing reductions played a role in the recent tragedies.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was confirmed just a day before the first major crash involving a military helicopter and a commercial plane near Reagan National Airport, has said unequivocally that recent cuts would have had no effect.
“Here’s the truth: the FAA alone has a staggering 45,000 employees,” Duffy said. “Less than 400 were let go, and they were all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago. Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go.”
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