Trump has lots to say about everything — except the Baltimore bridge collapse

In the two-plus days since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, former President Donald Trump has had a lot to say about everything but.

He posted to Truth Social at least three times about the social media company’s IPO and his wealth jumping over $6 billion. He posted about the New York judge who could rule to take some of his property. And, among other news of the day, he posted a specious New York Post story about the comedian Jon Stewart allegedly overvaluing his New York home.

But Trump’s only response to the bridge — a major news story blanketing cable news — has been to share a clip of Sean Hannity criticizing President Joe Biden for not saying enough about what Hannity called “the tragic bridge collapse that took place in Baltimore.”

Trump has ignored or hesitated to engage substantively with major news events in favor of narrow grievances and random rants. Most notably, last month, he went 72 hours following the death of Alexei Navalny before making his first comments about the death of the Russian opposition leader.

Still, the silence on the bridge is notably strange for the otherwise voluble and news-addled Trump, who has used social media to comment on everything from Jimmy Kimmel’s performance as Oscar host to the pop star Katy Perry’s former marriage to Russell Brand.

“It’s a little weird,” Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist, said of Trump’s lack of comment on the bridge. “It was a national tragedy, it’s going to cost $2 billion, it’s going to screw up a lot of people’s lives and impact goods traveling around the world.”

For starters, on a human level, it involves a major national disaster and loss of life, the kind of event any politician, let alone a major party’s presumptive nominee, might offer a rote condolence over.

“At a minimum,” Reed said, Trump could “express sympathy toward the poor six men that died that were doing their jobs on the midnight shift, keeping commerce flowing.”

The bridge’s collapse and efforts to rebuild it also touch on one of Trump’s core, self-proclaimed competencies: “I’m a builder,” said the real estate mogul. Trump has spent his career lavishing attention on construction projects, from skyscrapers blazoned with his name to the “big, beautiful” border wall. But so far, Trump hasn’t mentioned rebuilding.

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a POLITICO request for comment.

Dave Carney, a Republican strategist, said there was no need for Trump to opine on the Baltimore bridge collapse. Though Trump weighed in on the East Palestine train derailment last year and the lack of federal response, Carney said the former president “saw a way to leverage their inattention, and it made good sense.” But there was no glaring governmental failure to hit in the aftermath of the bridge accident.

“I’m glad he didn’t,” Carney said. “What do you say? ‘Bridge shouldn’t have collapsed?’ That’s just silly.”

For the former president, the bridge’s collapse hasn’t risen even to the level of a public statement.

If Trump did attempt to turn the bridge collapse into a policy or government management issue, it could also open him to criticism from Democrats on his failure to pass an infrastructure bill during his time in office, a potential general election liability. “Infrastructure week” became a kind of punchline during his administration. One of Biden’s signature legislative accomplishments, on the other hand, includes a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday in a White House briefing to support Biden’s call for Congress to fund the bridge’s repair. “Today, this is happening in Baltimore; tomorrow, it could be your district,” Buttigieg said. “And we really need to stand together — red, blue, and purple — to get these things done.”

Trump’s campaign is certainly aware of the bridge collapse. Jason Miller, one of Trump’s top aides, said Biden was only responding to the Baltimore tragedy because of its politics. “I would hate to think that it’s simply because Baltimore is a blue Democratic area and East Palestine is [in] more of a red Republican area,” Miller told Newsmax’s “Newsline” on Wednesday.

“Donald Trump attacked Baltimore as a ‘disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess’ and because he only cares about himself, has not shown an ounce of empathy for the tragedy in Baltimore,” a spokesperson for the Biden campaign told POLITICO in a statement. “This is unsurprising from a guy who cancelled a memorial visit because he was worried about his hair getting messy in the rain, skipped Parkland funerals to play golf, and told Americans to ‘just get over’ another mass shooting.”

“I would hate to think it’s that crass, [that] Biden is looking at the poll numbers and saying that Americans do not believe that he has strong leadership, so now he’s going to step up and try to lead in some capacity,” Miller said.

But Trump is not offering an alternative vision of leadership himself. And for the former president, the bridge’s collapse hasn’t risen even to the level of a public statement.

“I just think it passed right over him,” Reed, the Republican operative, said.

Natalie Allison contributed to this report.