Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared briefly dumbstruck Sunday when asked why President Donald Trump stayed silent as flights were grounded nationwide in an aviation crisis.
Duffy, 55, appeared on State of the Union, with host Dana Bash noting: “People were scared. They didn’t know if it was a cyber attack or rogue AI or what.”
Trump had ignored the situation until posting in support of Duffy’s demand for $50 billion in funding just prior to his transportation chief’s appearance on the show, leading Bash to ask: “Didn’t Americans deserve to hear from him while this was going on?”
Secretary Duffy argued that Trump has shown “great leadership” throughout the travel crisis.
Duffy struggled to get his words out as he first formulated an answer, before saying: “So, I along with Markwayne Mullin—by the way, I was in the air when we issued the ground stop—landed, went right to the White House.
“I was in the Oval Office with Markwayne. We were talking to the president. The president told Stephen Miller, this is a whole-of-government approach. So we were on a call with DNI, NSA, CISA, FBI—”
“Why didn’t we hear from the president publicly?” Bash interrupted, with Duffy joking of Trump’s usual online verbosity: “You’re not telling me that you don’t hear from the president publicly?”
Following his lack of address to the public, Trump reemerged Sunday morning to blame Biden for the chaos.
Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump
“I know, but that’s what’s so stunning about it,” she said.
“Because he was posting on social media about motion picture television, entertainment, many posts about revitalizing a golf course. And that’s why it’s so noteworthy that we didn’t hear from him for almost a day and a half.”
Duffy brushed off the public impact, and stated: “I can tell you this. I was in constant contact. He was fully engaged, because this is important to him and it’s important to America.”
The former reality TV star claimed that while answers weren’t given to the public, Trump was busy behind the scenes, speaking to him and Mullin both before and after their poorly-received press conference.
In his second Truth Social post, the president urged Congress to approve Duffy’s $50 billion funding request.
Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump
“So his engagement has been remarkable,” he said, praising Trump’s “great leadership.”
“So, no, the president is fully supportive, fully engaged, and was fully tracking what’s happening,” Duffy said.
“Because the safety of the traveling public is number one for him, like it is for me.”
Trump has indeed now broken his silence on the mass grounding, but has opted to blame the Biden administration instead of offering any tangible explanation or plan.
In one Truth Social post this morning, he proclaimed: “If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently. It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World.”
Trump then described being hard at work on unspecified subjects, and celebrated the glory of the USA.
Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump
“Much of our current air control system is 50 years old – RIDICULOUS! We have already started the work, but it should be done all at once, not in drips and drabs. Congress must approve. The Biden Administration set it back years!”
Another was even less clear, and seemed to brush away the matter entirely.
“I am in the White House having meetings on many subjects,” Trump wrote. “Very exciting times for the USA. Great things are happening – We are the ‘hottest’ Country anywhere in the World!”
The post Trump Goon Cornered on President’s Absence Amid Crisis appeared first on The Daily Beast.
