Nearly three weeks after a toxic train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, the Biden administration’s Transportation Secretary he finally deigned to show up – doing so only after several days of political criticism and pressure. The president still has not shown his face to the affected community, although his predecessor did, welcoming the residents and treatment of first aiders to McDonald’s. knot. Pete Buttigieg spent several days as a deputy for the Secret Service in the wake of the high-profile accident, until he finally took to Twitter to express his concerns after critics wondered about his noticeable absence. He was irritated by questions about it in his “personal time” and finally agreed to go to the site, exactly 20 days after the fact. A cynic could be forgiven for concluding that Buttigieg’s entire approach to the disaster was to ignore it as much as possible, then engage belatedly when withdrawal became politically unsustainable. A cynic could also be forgiven for saying that since politics had been the driving force behind the administration’s inaction for weeks, it was inevitable that the administration would eventually resort to political attacks to distract from its own apathy and failures. AND so this is what happened: :
“Republicans and former Trump administration officials owe an apology to East Palestine for selling them out to rail industry lobbyists when they dismantled Obama-Biden’s rail protections,” White House deputy press secretary said @AndrewJBates46.
Note: pic.twitter.com/6T0yRziGz0
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) February 22, 2023
“Blame the GOP” is what they finally came to, almost three weeks after the accident. Naturally. It’s worth noting that train derailments are more common in America than you might think, and they are ask questions honestly if some of the Republican criticism of the Biden administration’s delayed and faint response to this incident may be hypocritical and political (although the nature of this derailment sets it apart from a “typical” event in this category). Pointing fingers at the opposition party is a faint thing to do, especially since it took them so long to put together their arguments of blame and blame. But that’s what it looks like too this is actually wrong:
This is in addition to the media administrator/Biden attempt to deflect by twisting the ECP brake rule, which I wrote about in this week’s newsletter:https://t.co/94H95jil3W pic.twitter.com/SIbwBCw2JC
— AG (@AGHamilton29) February 23, 2023
The decision they are trying to pin on Trump stems from a process that began under Obama. The Department of Transportation examined the rule and concluded that the benefits did not outweigh the costs, so the recommendation to make the change (no longer requiring a specific type of brake on certain trains) was adopted and implemented during the Trump Summer. Most importantly, according to the regulations, the shift would not comply to a train that derailed in Ohio, so “the invalidation of this rule cannot be blamed” for what happened. But that didn’t stop the White House from doing it anyway. Buttigieg, for his part, is also engaged in the political fight over this whole situation because it has been a top priority all along. He has been sparring with Senator Marco Rubio and appears to be relying on distortions and misleading claims to make it seem like he is a great advocate for rail safety – but this has been thwarted by the evil Big Train lobby and their Republican supporters:
Before you came out of hiding 10 days after the worst rail accident in over a decade, the last time we heard you talking about rail was when you were lobbying for a “deal” with the rail company that put workers on paid leave while I fought for workers
Please resign now https://t.co/7ZfBZHeTJL
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 22, 2023
“Facts don’t lie,” Buttigieg asserts, to the usual chorus of applause from online liberals. But political actors Down lie. Note trick of the hand allegedly plays a role here:
Here is the letter in question. It is essential to note that they advocated for a solution that has been proven to provide an “excellent safety record.”
Pete B. trying to deflect blame by presenting this proposal as reducing safety is extremely dishonest. https://t.co/OJAa31dT2u pic.twitter.com/sz2BiwH6B5
— AG (@AGHamilton29) February 23, 2023
As an AG, a thorough and reliable analyst, sums up: Buttigieg “rejected an inspection proposal that would have improved safety records to appease unions, then tried to deflect blame for the recent disaster from himself by lying about the proposal and implying it would have the opposite effect.” Indeed, the cynic we keep mentioning could be forgiven for saying that the Democrat Transportation Secretary could have rejected a proposal for increased (and supposedly more effective, data-driven) automated inspection/problem detection because the robots are not unionized. Then, in the face of the crisis (in the opinion of the Political Secretary), a very narrow counter-attack was launched to give the impression that people pushing for more detection were actually advocating deregulation and less detection. That would certainly be cynical, right? Therefore, I will do this leave you to it. Surprise:
Great @DominicJPino article about Buttigieg using the Ohio train crash to push pre-existing progressive priorities https://t.co/be6mGSYEhH
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) February 21, 2023
Taking a closer look at the ministry’s proposals, security does not seem to be the main justification. Instead, they include demands that have been made for years by environmentalists and trade unions, none of which would have prevented the catastrophe in East Palestine…Most of Buttigieg’s responses are a wish list of progressive regulatory ideas that have been around for years and have nothing to do with the disaster in East Palestine, to which some pro-union measures have been added. The Department of Transportation should not utilize this disaster as an opportunity to secure long-overdue regulatory changes.
Let’s meet again with the cynic in question who may remember this significant quote and consider whether it might apply to this situation. To read the entire analysis. It is compelling, detailed, and points strongly toward an administration “response” that is largely political damage control and pursuing a progressive agenda – as opposed to offering real, meaningful, and actionable solutions. Imagine this.
