While many people have lampooned President Trump’s hilarious attempt to claim personal responsibility for 2017’s lack of deaths by commercial airliner, few have the aviation credibility of former astronaut Captain Mark Kelly.
Kelly knew exactly how to respond when he saw this tweet that the President sent this morning:
Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
Trump’s strictness on “Commercial Aviation,” as he unexpectedly capitalizes it, has no more to do with airline safety than his tweeting has to do with internet security. Does he mean that aviation safety is the only area where he won’t be trying to repeal all of the existing regulations in order to make the business owners more profitable at the expense of the general public’s benefit?
Kelly decided to give the credit to those who really deserve it and to let Trump know what he should actually be taking credit for.
Actually, it's @USDOT, @FAANews, & @NASA —and especially the airlines— who deserve credit for this. But, if you're going to take credit for zero airline deaths in 2017 then you should take responsibility for the tens of thousands of gun deaths, too. #lawsmatter https://t.co/vnSPBo76LF
— Mark Kelly (@ShuttleCDRKelly) January 2, 2018
Touché, Captain Kelly. Even if you weren’t the husband of former Congresswoman and shooting survivor Gabrielle Giffords and a noted gun-control advocate in your own right, your logic on presidential responsibility is so strong that your tweet would have gone viral anyway.
If only the President himself wasn’t so congenitally immune to logical thought and reason, your impeccable analogy might prove effective at teaching him to properly assign accountability.