CNN commentator Bakari Sellers and two other prominent left-leaning commentators with significant followings on social media sparked outrage late on Wednesday when they appeared to pin the blame for the tragic midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter on President Donald Trump.
Sellers posted and then deleted a screenshot of a press release from last week in which a Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), criticizing Trump for what he called a “dangerous freeze of air traffic control hiring.”
Larsen’s press release was a reference to one of Trump’s executive orders that he signed upon taking office last week.
The executive order was intended to free hiring federal civilian employees as part of an effort to downsize the federal government and remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Under the hiring freeze, any federal civilian position vacant as of noon on Jan. 20 would remain unfilled, and no new positions would be created unless mandated by law or directed by the president.
However, Trump’s order excludes military personnel and roles associated with immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
Sellers’ post prompted push-back from users on X. Dave Galluch, a Navy veteran and former Congressional candidate, noted that the hiring freeze did not apply to air traffic control.
“Even if the headline was accurate, using the death of 60+ innocent people to get a political dig in an hour after their death is as low as you can go,” Galluch wrote, adding: “Say less.”
Another X user wrote: “Bakari, you are a despicable liar. Shame on you.”
“They are fishing corpses out of the Potomac, families are praying their loved ones miraculously survived. And here you were being the ghoulish Partisan spouting the Narrative, just looking for a way to blame it on Trump. What a broken human being,” wrote another X user.
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Sellers deleted the post and then followed up with a message in which he admitted “I f–ked up.”
“I deleted the post because timing matters. Politics at this point does not,” the former South Carolina state representative wrote.
“I f–ked up, I own that. I am very prayerful but I’m also very frustrated upset and disturbed with where we are as a country. I recognize, and I will do better.”
Aaron Rupar, a former Vox reporter who has more than 908,000 followers on X, posted a link to a Huffington Post article with a headline that read: “Trump Guts Key Aviation Safety Committee, Fires Heads of TSA, Coast Guard.”
The story, which was written by the Associated Press, was dated Jan. 22.
The post elicited sharp criticisms.
One X user wrote: “You are a disgusting excuse for a human being.”
Another X user wrote: “Well, if you are linking these firings to the crash, it means all of the fired individuals were doing poor jobs and the firing was justified.”
Kyle Kulinski, a left-leaning podcast who hosts “Secular Talk,” posted the same headline as Rupar.
One X user responded: “This is low, even for you…Was mere luck this didn’t happen during Biden admin.”
Supporters of Trump offered theories of their own about the crash, with one X user opining: “Were the air traffic controllers on duty some of Biden’s and Pete’s DEI hires? Did the Democrats’ Woke DEI play a part in the DC crash?”
Pete is a reference to Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary in the Biden administration.
The Post has sought comment from Sellers, Kulinsky and Rupar.
