Predictably, in the wake of Friday's nationwide ground stop issued by the FAA, some in the left wing media have used it to go after the administration and in particular President Trump, who has been uncharacteristically silent on the matter. Saturday on MS NOW's Politics Nation, host Reverend Al Sharpton's panel of MS Now contributors, bizarrely claimed that Trump's ego couldn't handle addressing the issue, and that it's not unusual for him.
Sharpton, whose show aired at 5pm ET, got the segment started, noting Trump's 2023 post during the last ground stop, and went after his current response.
SHARPTON: Back in 2023, when FAA outage grounded flights for less than two hours during the Biden administration, Trump posted on social media that quote, we are now living in the equivalent of a third world nation, end of quote. Nearly 24 hours after this latest incident, President Trump's only public acknowledgment is a post quoting senator John Kennedy from his appearance on Fox News this morning about the need to pass air control funding in the reconciliation bill. President Trump has not been seen in public since Wednesday and is expected to depart for China on Monday.
He then threw it to former Republican and Andrew Cuomo strategist and MS NOW Contributor Susan Del Percio.
SHARPTON: Susan, we haven't heard from President Trump since the ground stop began. He's left the response up to his cabinet secretaries. Help us make sense of the President's priorities. What's what's the political calculation?
DEL PERCIO: Well, I can't do that. I can never make sense of what the President's thinking, frankly, Rev. But what I can say is that the President doesn't like to be around a losing issue, and he can't lie himself out of this. Everyone knows what's happening on the ground. There's no massaging it saying we're making great progress. You know, he always has a lie to to try and balance out whatever the thing is that's working against his administration. This is something he can't do. So it doesn't surprise me.
She then went on to describe someone who sounded like a different president.
DEL PERCIO: Plus, given the week he's had in the last two weeks, he all he does is lose right now I think he's afraid to be around another bad issue his ego can't handle it.
His ego can't handle it? When has President Trump not weighed in on a major issue during his two presidencies? His ego can't handle it? Wasn't that President Trump sitting down last Sunday on CBS's 60 Minutes for over 50 minutes? Wasn't that Trump holding a surprise WH press briefing last Monday, taking questions? How did his ego ever survive?
Del Percio then seemed to switch gears a bit.
DEL PERCIO: I'll also add, not that I'm making an excuse, but he could also just need a little break. I have no problem with presidents taking a few days off to play golf. I mean, you're never off when you're the president. But the fact that he he won't even announce that he's he's taking the weekend and meeting with advisers out of the White House or something is somewhat unusual--
SHARPTON: And to take a break--
DEL PERCIO: Nothing. We've heard nothing.
SHARPTON: And to take a break when the whole country is at a standstill.
Of course the "standstill" itself only lasted for 4 hours and 21 minutes, and ended at 8:15pm on Friday. Next Sharpton turned to Dem Strategist and MS NOW Contributor Juanita Tolliver, and asked how New WH Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is handling this? Guess what her response was!
TOLLIVER: Big failure Rev, like come on, this was ridiculous. If anything, he should have at least prompted Donald Trump to post something online talking about how horrendous this is for travelers who are stranded, who don't know when their next flight is going to be. I hear Susan on not wanting to touch another toxic issue, but this is yet another example where Donald Trump could have said something to clarify the situation for the general public, but he did nothing.
Again, who are these folks talking about? What are other the examples of Donald Trump "doing nothing" when it comes to weighing in on just about everything that happens? It's a gratuitous attack on a President who is most often taken to task by the left, for saying too much. It's MS NOW, he can't win!
