Donald Trump kicked off 2018 on a tear, after returning to the White House from spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort — or, the “Winter White House” as he likes to call it. On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted nine separate times, about everything from “Crooked” Hillary Clinton to his border wall, his tax bill, the “failing” New York Times, and North Korea, among other things. A rundown of his greatest hits, you could say!
One of the topics Trump touched on was the news that 2017 was the safest year on record for air travel, with zero commercial aviation-related deaths. “Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” the president wrote. “Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”
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
How Trump can take credit for zero commercial aviation deaths is anyone’s best guess — especially being that his plan to privatize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was rejected by the Senate earlier this year. Not to mention the fact that there haven’t been any commercial aviation deaths in the U.S., period, since 2009. Yet, it happened on Trump’s watch, so we all must have him to thank for it.
Many were quick to pile on Trump on Twitter to point out the inaccuracy in his tweet, or just plain ridicule him in general.
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/948197131260743682
https://twitter.com/JamesPMorrison/status/948201496381767680
https://twitter.com/JayCaruso/status/948203491167752193
And no deaths in 2017 due to velociraptors. Thank you, Dear Leader Trump. https://t.co/YB5VDJm5nw
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 2, 2018
Other 2017 things for which Trump deserves credit:
– 0 asteroid strikes
– Mind-flayer defeated
– Taylor Swift’s year
– D̶i̶d̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶d̶i̶r̶e̶c̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶c̶l̶i̶p̶s̶e̶
– “Merry Christmas”
– Adorable kids interrupting BBC interview
– Bob Dylan still alive
– pic.twitter.com/GECzac40Bc— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) January 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/pajiba/status/948205725548974081
“Very strict on Commercial Aviation.”
What does this even mean? What, if anything, has he done?There hasn’t been a deadly scheduled airline crash in the US since 2009. The 2017 news is a global achievement. https://t.co/phS2xs86hC
— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) January 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/charlescwcooke/status/948196733280022528
Commercial airline deaths in the U.S. by year:
2010: 0
2011: 0
2012: 0.
2013: 0.
2014: 0.
2015: 0.
2016: 0.
2017: 0.https://t.co/E8qucAhTpJ https://t.co/MDbvtHUxN6— Paul Farhi (@farhip) January 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/948196669358780416
12 people, including 10 Americans, killed in Costa Rican plane crash within past 48 hours. https://t.co/eXvS6Xq7Br Not a regularly scheduled flight, but dead all the same. Trump's boast is not only stupid, but heartless https://t.co/N6gKcjtw01
— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 2, 2018
It’s a bit early, but perhaps we can preemptively thank the president should there be zero aviation deaths in 2018. Credit where credit is due, and all.