On Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, aviation correspondent Pete Muntean told host Dana Bash that it appeared the Delta Airlines flight that crashed in Toronto on Monday did so due to a landing gear malfunction. He also noted how there is no common thread linking it with other recent plane crashes, but that didn’t stop Bash and her assembled panel from noticing “this happening against the backdrop of massive cuts across the federal government, including at the FAA.” Additionally, as CNN ignored its own aviation expert, it wondered if voters would blame Donald Trump and Elon Musk for firing aviation experts at the FAA amid multiple plane crash stories.

Bash began with the dreaded “but,” claiming “I’m back here with our fantastic panel. Let’s broaden it out a little bit to talk about what is going on here in Washington. As he said, there’s no thread between all of those except the obvious, which is that planes are crashing, which is frightening, but this is happening against the backdrop of massive cuts across the federal government, including at the FAA.”

After Bash rattled off some numbers, senior political analyst Nia-Malika Henderson replied, “So far, at least, if you, kind of, look at how Americans, Trump voters in particular, are reacting so far, this is something that they haven’t really been affected by… But so far, these cuts, because they are directed at federal workers, who the right has been expert at demonizing, as lazy as working from home, as costing too much, because they have been demonized, a lot of Americans say ‘too bad, so sad,’ that they’re that they’re being axed. We’ll see how long that lasts. We’ll see if there is any trickle-down effect for average Americans.”

Bash then read a tweet from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, “I just want to read what Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said. ‘I’m thankful that everyone in the flight incident in Toronto that took off from Minneapolis is safe, but we keep seeing these incidents day after day. Meanwhile, Trump’s doing massive layoffs at the FAA, including safety specialists, and making our skies less and less safe. Democrats are fighting to protect the flying public.’”

If CNN had a consistent standard of fact-checking, Bash would’ve recalled Muntean’s comments about the landing gear, but instead Wall Street Journal congressional reporter Olivia Beavers predicted, “It sounds like we’re going to have Democrats very quickly blaming, if there’s anything with investigations pointing that the president’s cuts, the DOGE cuts, led to the FAA having problems with flights, but it’s going to be broader than that.”

Next, Politico White House and foreign policy correspondent Eli Stokols recalled how some Democrats have privately told him, “’Look, could the Department of Education be shrunk down? Has there been some bureaucracy creep over the years? Yes. But it’s the way that they’re going about doing it, and it’s empowering Elon Musk and a bunch of 20-something tech bros to go in and sort of, before they even know what’s what, just slashing systems.’”

 He then declared, “It’s when that is the story on one hand. And then there are other things playing out. You go to the store, there’s no eggs in the fridge. You know, you see planes crashing left and right… You know, at some point people may connect the dots, and they may come to blame this administration, this government, if they have just bulldozed their way through government, taken out a lot of expertise because people don’t really know what government does or is until it’s doing something for them or until it’s not there.”

 If voters do start to make that conclusion, will CNN roll out Daniel Dale to inform them that such conclusions are unjustified? Based on Tuesday’s show, probably not.

Here is a transcript for the February 18 show:

CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash

2/18/2025

12:22 PM ET

DANA BASH: Pete thank you. We’re extremely lucky to have you with us. Explain everything to us. Talk to you soon. I’m back here with our fantastic panel. Let’s broaden it out a little bit to talk about what is going on here in Washington. As he said, there’s no thread between all of those except the obvious, which is that planes are crashing, which is frightening, but this is happening against the backdrop of massive cuts across the federal government, including at the FAA. I’m just going to put some up on the screen. Hundreds of FAA employees have been laid off as part of Elon Musk going through all the federal agencies. And then beyond the FAA, we have 10 percent of the CDC workforce, 3,400 at the U.S. Forest Service, 2,200 and the Interior Department 2,000 at the Department of Energy, 1,000 at the VA.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: Yeah. Listen. And so far, at least, if you, kind of, look at how Americans, Trump voters in particular, are reacting so far, this is something that they haven’t really been affected by. You do hear from some GOP senators who are in some of these states where they’re, you know, public parks, for instance, for instance, raising some alarms.

But so far, these cuts, because they are directed at federal workers, who the right has been expert at demonizing, as lazy as working from home, as costing too much, because they have been demonized, a lot of Americans say “too bad, so sad,” that they’re that they’re being axed. We’ll see how long that lasts. We’ll see if there is any trickle-down effect for average Americans.

BASH: I just want to read what Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said. “I’m thankful that everyone in the flight incident in Toronto that took off from Minneapolis is safe, but we keep seeing these incidents day after day. Meanwhile, Trump’s doing massive layoffs at the FAA, including safety specialists, and making our skies less and less safe. Democrats are fighting to protect the flying public.”

OLIVIA BEAVERS: It sounds like we’re going to have Democrats very quickly blaming, if there’s anything with investigations pointing that the president’s cuts, the DOGE cuts, led to the FAA having problems with flights, but it’s going to be broader than that.

…

ELI STOKOLS: Republicans like the Trump White House, they like how this is going. There’s almost a sense, like we’re baiting Democrats into going out and having protests, defending bigger government. I mean, they think the politics, in the main, you know, are favoring them. But I think that, I mean, and I have talked to a couple very senior Democrats who have said privately, “look, could the Department of Education be shrunk down? Has there been some bureaucracy creep over the years? Yes. But it’s the way that they’re going about doing it, and it’s empowering Elon Musk and a bunch of 20-something tech bros to go in and sort of, before they even know what’s what, just slashing systems.”

It’s when that is the story on one hand. And then there are other things playing out. You go to the store, there’s no eggs in the fridge. You know, you see planes crashing left and right. You hear about a bird flu and you hear, on the other hand, about scientists being fired at NIH. You know, at some point people may connect the dots, and they may come to blame this administration, this government, if they have just bulldozed their way through government, taken out a lot of expertise because people don’t really know what government does or is until it’s doing something for them or until it’s not there.