MSNBC host Joy Reid sat down with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday after he visited East Palestine, Ohio, to bash former President Trump and lay the blame on him for the catastrophic train derailment instead of addressing Buttigieg’s failure to visit the site for 20 days afterward.

(Video Credit: MSNBC)

Reid immediately savaged Republicans over the derailment, asking Buttigieg how he felt about being attacked by Trump and conservatives concerning his handling of the disaster. Prior to her interview with the transportation secretary, she mocked Trump’s visit to East Palestine and asserted that his administration helped cause the disaster. It’s not the first time she has made that allegation. She did so earlier in the week as well.

As she showed viral video footage of Trump handing out bottles of water, canned food, and cleaning supplies, while stopping at a McDonald’s and paying for everyone’s food, she called it a “bit of theater” where he “denied his administration had anything to do with regulatory changes that contributed to the disaster.”

“But it was him,” Reid declared. “It was Donald Trump and his administration who gave the rail industry and Norfolk Southern exactly what they wanted, fewer and looser rules around rail safety. Trump conveniently forgot to tell his most loyal supporters how Norfolk Southern lobbied heavily for laxer safety rules and how receptive the Trump administration was to their arguments on rolling back the rules.”

“You know, the sort of theatrics of Donald Trump being in [East] Palestine were odd, but this is a community that voted overwhelmingly for him. The county that Palestine is in voted 71/29 for Donald Trump. I want you to reflect on the irony. In 2016, it was 68/26. This is a Trump county. What do you make of the fact he went there despite the fact the regulations he rolled back were partly responsible for this tragedy?” Reid asked Buttigieg as she introduced him.

(Video Credit: MSNBC)

On a trip to East Palestine, former President Trump showed his appreciation for the mayorhttps://t.co/WM3KzbIqXp

— American Wire News (@americanwire_) February 23, 2023

Buttigieg eagerly weighed in to blame Trump and deflect from his own responsibility for the disaster.

“It was definitely an ironic thing to do. You take down regulations, you water down regulations, you weaken the power of the administration to deal with freight railroad companies, and then you show up wanting to be a great friend of the people who have been impacted by a rail disaster,” he disingenuously accused.

“You know, this is somebody who as far as I know never went to a derailment site when one of those happens on his watch. And there were thousands. Even ones with fatalities. Never even sent his transportation secretary to go. Now that it’s campaign season, I guess things are different. We were there to work. We were there to get things done. And I’m really glad I had the opportunity to be there,” he hypocritically contended.

The sit-down with Reid followed Buttigieg grandstanding for the press in East Palestine. He stated that he regretted not publicly addressing the train derailment earlier and then turned around and blamed Trump again for the tragedy.

Former McKinsey consultant cosplays as construction worker, Transportation Secretary, shows up to wreckage latehttps://t.co/TLUlJ8g1oA

— American Wire News (@americanwire_) February 23, 2023

“You mentioned a national political figure who decided to get involved. It sounds like you’re talking about Trump. And then you said, ‘I need your help. How can he help?’” a reporter questioned Buttigieg.

“Well, one thing he could do is express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch. I heard him say he had nothing to do with it, even though it was in his administration,” Buttigieg responded.

(Video Credit: Mediaite)

“So if he had nothing to do with it and they did it in his administration against his will, maybe he could come out and say that he supports us moving in a different direction. And we’re not afraid to own our policies when it comes to raising the bar on regulation,” the transportation secretary continued.

“And I’ve got to think that him indicating that this is something that everybody, no matter how much you disagree on, politics and presidential campaigns, can get behind. Higher fines, tougher regulations on safety, Congress on tying our hands on braking rules, all the other things that go with it. That’ll be a nice thing for him to do,” Buttigieg stated, attempting to make the disaster all about the former president.

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