'Not good!' Analyst makes startling comparison of Trump and Reagan's reaction to crises

President Donald Trump's assertion that his own "common sense" told him all he needed to know about the mid-air collision over the Potomac proves just how much he doesn't want to get involved in learning facts and taking action, according to a new article in The Atlantic.

Trump is a "passive" president more intent on pontificating and "Making America Great Again" in theory, rather than taking charge and actually leading, argues Atlantic staff writer David A. Graham.

Take Trump's middle-of-the night TruthSocial post about the crash as the tragedy was unfolding, he wrote.

"The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!"

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Graham writes, "He raises some valid points—ones that many people might be wondering about themselves. The difference between them and him is that he is the leader of the federal government, able to marshal unparalleled resources to get answers about a horror that happened just two and a half miles from his home. He’s the commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces, and the crash involved an Army helicopter. But Trump isn’t really interested in doing things. Like Chauncey Gardiner, the simple-minded protagonist of Being There, he likes to watch."

Graham argues, "It would be nice to see the president doing something more than watching cable news and posting about it."

"Almost exactly 39 years ago, after the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger, President Ronald Reagan memorably described how the astronauts aboard had “'slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’' Trump is giving us 'NOT GOOD!!!' Graham writes.

Read The Atlantic article here.