NTSB Chair Shuts Down Pete Buttigieg’s Pathetic Blaming of Donald Trump for Train Derailment

Pete Buttigieg finally went to East Palestine on Thursday, and as expected, he thoroughly embarrassed himself. While reporters were asking valid questions about the performance of the Biden administration, the failed transportation secretary used them to launch ridiculous partisan attacks on people who haven’t been in power for years.

Here’s one such example, but there have been others over the weeks, with Buttigieg repeatedly citing supposed deregulation as a cause of the devastating derailment.

I don’t know about you, but watching this absolute mediocrity of a public official smugly make his way through a press conference, appearing to be holding back laughter at times, was frustrating at best. Buttigieg managed to blame Donald Trump for supposed deregulation when Donald Trump hasn’t been in office for over two years. Besides, if deregulation was a problem, why did Buttigieg never mention it until now? Where was his public lobbying effort to change the rules? Or was he too busy on his seven-month-long paternity leave?

But I digress, Buttigieg’s pathetic musings were picked up by hacks like Jake Tapper. The CNN talking head ran into a brick wall, though, when the NTSB Chair he was interviewing decided to educate him.

Here was Tapper’s dishonest framing (Breitbart) before we get to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy’s answer.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “[E]ven with the 20 cars with toxic materials, under current safety rules, that train still did not qualify for designation as a high-hazard flammable train, which would have gotten it — or required at least, a newer, safer braking system. So, that rule as it stands right now clearly was inadequate for the citizens of East Palestine. Why not add the newer braking system to any train carrying hazardous material, not just those with more than 20 cars of hazardous material?”

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