Critics of President Donald Trump blamed the president for the Iranian military reportedly shooting down a Ukrainian airplane with 176 people on board.
The Ukrainian flight crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran early Wednesday morning, killing all people on board. American and Canadian authorities said Iran is believed to have hit the plane with an anti-aircraft missile, and footage obtained by The New York Times shows a projectile hitting the plane shortly after takeoff.
Despite the fact that Iran reportedly shot down the plane, critics of the president still found a way to blame him, at least in part, for the tragedy.
“No American paid a price for President Donald Trump’s decision to kill Iran’s Qassem Soleimani. But it looks like 176 other people did, including 63 Canadian citizens and many more Iranian nationals en route to Canada,” wrote The Atlantic’s David Frum, who was a vocal supporter of the Iraq war.
“Families across half the world are now grieving a consequence that Trump’s ego forbade him to imagine or ponder,” concluded Frum. (RELATED: MSNBC Airs Baseless Iranian Propaganda About Dead US Soldiers)
Democratic 2020 candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg similarly appeared to blame Trump for the tragedy.
“Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat,” Buttigieg wrote on Twitter.
Rodericka Applewhaite, a rapid-response staffer on Buttigieg’s campaign, cited the mayor’s blame-shifting as evidence “that Pete would be the kind of Commander-in-Chief that’s principled enough to avoid tragedies like this,” referring to the downed flight.
In case there was any question that Pete would be the kind of Commander-in-Chief that’s principled enough to avoid tragedies like this –> https://t.co/HaZ60gNJ9D
— Rodericka Applewhaite ???? (@Rodericka) January 9, 2020
Salon writer Amanda Marcotte said “176 innocent people are dead because Trump made the impulsive, thoughtless decision to kill Soleimani.”
“Trump wanted — demanded — the awesome responsibility of being president. That responsibility means that you are to blame when your criminally stupid decisions lead to people dying,” she added.
Let’s not play the “Trump isn’t to blame because he didn’t shoot the rocket” game. Trump wanted — demanded — the awesome responsibility of being president. That responsibility means that you are to blame when your criminally stupid decisions lead to people dying.
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) January 9, 2020
“Did it never occur to [Trump] that the plane filled with 176 souls would almost certainly never have been targeted by a trigger-happy Iranian missile but for the assassination?” asked Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, who has repeatedly spread left-wing conspiracy theories.
Former Democratic California Sen. Barbara Boxer similarly blamed the dead passengers on the president.
“The tragic crash of a civilian aircraft shows everyone in the world how war leads to heart wrenching unintended consequences. We need a president who understands this. Dump Trump 2020,” she wrote on Twitter.
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