On Thursday night’s episode of MSNBC’s The 11th Hour, Stephanie Ruhle hosted a panel including Tim Miller of The Bulwark podcast, NBC senior national politics reporter Jonathan Allen, and New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. Ostensibly the topic of discussion was Wednesday night’s mid-air crash at Reagan National Airport, in which all 67 people on both aircraft perished, but in reality they just used the discussion as an opportunity to run rampant on President Trump, not even pretending to conceal their contempt or keeping up the flimsiest facade of civility.
Ruhle cut straight to the chase, raising the subject of the president’s remarks the day after the crash, “Investigations have barely begun, and this is what our president had to say. What do you think?”
“Yeah, he's such a POS,” Miller responded:
Steph, I don't even know what else to say about it, I- you know? I mean, going after diversity hires ... the president goes up to talk and spends, what, 35 minutes- whatever it was today rambling about how it's minorities and- people that have- you know, different mental health issues or whatever that are responsible for this, without knowing anything, and it's not hard to try to figure out what people know … that's what responsible people do. You know, children that like to create fights and make people mad for kicks, do what the president did today. But that's- that's what folks voted for…
Ruhle then quoted a social media post from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling the president’s word’s “Despicable,” and accusing him of “lying.”
She then turned it over to Allen, who declared, “Look, it's not necessary to- to call the president names, but rather to simply watch what happened today, what's happened over the last number of hours and make a determination about whether it's helpful or unhelpful,” but he went on to suggest that the president “turned a tragedy into a political moment?”
Ruhle then referenced a video where Trump was asked if he will visit the site, and, pointing out that the exact location is in the water, he wondered, “What am I going to do? Swim?”
“That would be like George Bush saying he wasn't heading down to 9/11 because there would be nowhere left to eat, it was a bunch of rubble,” Ruhle fumed in response.
Baker picked up where the others left off, claiming he has “never seen a president like this,” and accusing Trump of having an “empathy gap,” being “much more comfortable being the blamer-in-chief than the consoler-in-chief,” and lacking “empathy,” “compassion,” and “concern for human suffering.”
When the conversation gets back around to Miller, he clarified, “I will just say — I disagree with Jon, I do think it's necessary to call the president names because that's all he does is call people names … He attacks everybody.”
At least, as these four rail against the sitting president on national television, call him ugly names, and viciously attack him personally, they are pretty transparent.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
01/30/2025
11:39:PM[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: TRUMP FACES BACKLASH FOR COMMENTS ON PLANE DISASTER]
STEPHANIE RUHLE: (Sigh) The gentlemen are still with us. Tim, I- I was really conflicted whether I even wanted to talk about this tonight. But the reason I want to is because Donald Trump made these remarks 14 hours right after the crash. Families had only known for a few hours. Investigations have barely begun, and this is what our president had to say. What do you think?
TIM MILLER (BULWARK PODCAST HOST): Yeah, he's such a POS. Steph, I don't even know what else to say about it, I- you know? I mean, going after diversity hires, I just imagine- I saw this interview with a guy who was waiting to see if his wife had survived- and- was not a white guy, and- and obviously she didn't. Nobody survived on that plane.
And I certainly imagine him waking up today and having to deal with all this. And then the president goes up to talk and spends, what, 35 minutes- whatever it was today rambling about how it's minorities and- people that have- you know, different mental health issues or whatever that are responsible for this, without knowing anything, and it's not hard to try to figure out what people know. And, you know- I was watching the segment you had right before we came on- you can bring on actual experts, you can figure out what the actual problem was. Who- I mean- who knows? Like- that's what responsible people do.
You know, children that like to create fights and make people mad for kicks, do what the president did today. But that's- that's what folks voted for.
One- just one other quick thing, if you don't mind, on that other story that you that you led with the FBI firings, I do-
RUHLE: We're going to get to that. We're going to get to the FBI firings-.
MILLER: Okay. All right. Yeah. Good.
RUHLE: I want- I want to stay here. John, let's talk about this DEI thing, because- former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded almost immediately. And he said on Twitter, “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.” What is your thought here? I mean, those were strong words from Pete Buttigieg.
JONATHAN ALLEN (SR. NATL. POLITICS REPORTER, NBC NEWS): Yeah. Look, it's not necessary to- to call the president names, but rather to simply watch what happened today, what's happened over the last number of hours and make a determination about whether it's helpful or unhelpful. In terms of the questions that I think that people like Buttigieg have raised, like, is he making the airways any safer? Is he actually getting to the bottom of this, or has he a turned a tragedy into a political moment?
I think what seems obvious is that the President and- in sort of reminiscent of what happened during COVID, him taking to the microphone at the briefing room, you know, during a crisis and talking about a lot of things that had- have no apparent tie to the crisis. You know- the President at one point said he didn't know what had happened and then blamed- you know, various things, for instance, DEI hiring for this. You know, it was sort of rambling and all over the place. And- you know, I think to- former Secretary Buttigieg's point, like- I'm not sure how that was helpful to anybody in terms of- in terms of making the country any safer. It certainly made the country more divided.
RUHLE: Peter, I want to share what Donald Trump said when he was asked if he would be visiting the site. Watch this.
[Cuts to video]
REPORTER: Do you have a plan go visit the site or meet with any of the first responders?
DONALD TRUMP: I have a plan to visit- not the site. Because- what did- you tell me- What's the site? The water.
REPORTER: Or to meet with responders?
TRUMP: What am I going to do? Swim?
[Cuts back to live]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: TRUMP ON WHETHER HE’LL VISIT THE CRASH SITE- “YOU WANT ME TO GO SWIMMING?”]
RUHLE: What am I going to do, swim? That would be like George Bush saying he wasn't heading down to 9/11 because there would be nowhere left to eat. It was a bunch of rubble. You have covered many presidents. What is your reaction to what we heard today?
PETER BAKER (NEW YORK TIMES CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT): Yeah, you're right, I have. I've been covering presidents basically since 1996, and we've never heard a president like this. After a major disaster, turning instantly into a political partisan ideological contest, rather than- focusing on the healing, and focusing on the unity, and focusing on the mourning.
You know, we have a president here who- we've often talked about his empathy gap, we saw it repeatedly through the COVID pandemic, we've seen it through other natural disasters. His first instinct is to find somebody else to blame, he is much more comfortable being the blamer-in-chief than the consoler-in-chief. We just saw earlier this month when there were wildfires through Los Angeles. His first instinct was to sit there and trash Governor Gavin Newsom. We saw that, you know, after the hurricanes in Puerto Rico, when he got into a war of words with the Mayor of San Juan.
This is just his instinct, he has never- demonstrated the kind of- you know, empathy or compassion or, you know- concern for human suffering that other presidents have in moments like this. And it goes to the nature of his presidency. It's not about unifying. It's about finding dividing points. And this one, he was- to directly after his predecessors, President Biden, President Obama, Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, in order to, you know- score points or what have you, reading aloud, hiring criteria that he objected to, that was actually that hiring criteria that existed also during his own administration.
RUHLE: Okay. And maybe I'm naive, right? His big complaint, though, about DEI is that it gives unqualified people important jobs. That is not true. But what is true, is that this administration is putting some absolutely unqualified, but well-connected people that Donald Trump likes personally in very important jobs. Tim, what do you think about that?
MILLER: It's notable, isn't it, Steph? And I do, actually. I will just say- I disagree with John, I do think it's necessary to call the President names because that's all he does is call people names, and we deal with this imbalance in our politics right now where the President gets to use his bully pulpit to attack Pete Buttigieg and call him names and make jokes about him being gay and attack everybody. He attacks everybody – Gavin Newscum. And then he deals with high minded – He gets high minded, rebukes back. I don't I don't really think that's gotten us anywhere.
