Politics

Donald Trump's Tweet About Missing EgyptAir Flight MS804 Is Making People Nervous

May 19th 2016

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, weighed in with his thoughts Thursday morning on the Egyptian airplane that mysteriously went missing with 66 passengers on boardovernight.

But his commentary, some say, proves why he's not qualified to lead the country as commander in chief.

Roughly three hours before the business mogul's tweet went out, EgyptAir, the operator of flight MS804, called on news outlets and social media users not to publish and "misleading information" about "the reasons of the disappearance[.]" The company said that there was no confirmed reason for the disappearance.

Flight 804, which left Paris and was headed for Cairo, disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea at 2:45 a.m. local time, according to The New York Times. Officials say the plane was flying in Greek airspace when it swerved suddenly before disappearing into the water — only hours later was a distress signal detected from the area where the plane disappeared, though it's unclear if it came from the same flight.

Egypt's civil aviation minister said on Thursday that the cause was more likely to be related to terrorism than it was to a technical failure, CNN reported. Previous cases might suggest a similar conclusion, too. But on social media, some said Trump's readiness to jump to that conclusion made him unfit to honestly and safely lead the country in times of crisis.

The actor, director, and producer, Paul Wesley was one critic.

As was Charles Lister, an author, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, and senior consultant on Syria at the intelligence research outfit, the Soufan Group.

In response to Trump's tweet, Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Yahoo Global News: "I hope it doesn't suggest how he would respond to a crisis."

The Daily Beast reporter Shane Harris noted the other prominent source citing terrorism as the culprit.

Conservative speech writer Michael Freeman said that Trump's reactiveness could spell trouble in the White House Situation Room.

Authorities are still investigating the crash. 

Update: 5/19 1:23 p.m. PST: Officials involved with the investigation have said that the plane's wreckage has been found in the Mediterranean Sea. There has been no confirmed report as to the cause of the initial crash. 

Update: 5/19 4:39 p.m. PST:  EgyptAir's Vice Chairman Ahmed Adel told CNN that the previously reported wreckage was not associated with EgyptAir Flight 804.

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