Trump finally addresses national travel nightmare. And of course, he blames Biden

President Donald Trump finally addressed the massive air traffic control outage that grounded flights across the U.S., and, surprise, surprise — he blamed Joe Biden. In a Sunday morning Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “The Biden Administration was an FAA disaster. Everything they touched turned bad. Big money spent unwisely, making an old and broken system worse than when they began.” The president added, “We have the knowledge and plan for the Flight Control Systems, we need Congress to give the money, FAST! Our FAA is doing a great job, and is ready to go.” Trump’s comment, which is the first time he has addressed the disaster that has stranded thousands around the country, came almost 48 hours after the nightmare unfolded. Instead of addressing the issue on Saturday or offering any words of hope for outraged and exhausted travelers, the president instead raged against a federal judge who temporarily halted construction of his D.C. golf course. Trump followed his initial Sunday post about the air travel mess with, “If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently. It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World. Much of our current air control system is 50 years old - RIDICULOUS! We have already started the work, but it should be done all at once, not in drips and drabs. Congress must approve. The Biden Administration set it back years!”US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks during a press conference after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a national ground stop yesterday, at the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC, US, November 14, 2026. (Reuters)In his lengthy Truth Social post Saturday afternoon, Trump criticized U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes for blocking his administration from moving ahead quickly with a renovation of East Potomac Golf Links, a nearly 400-acre public park and course along the Potomac River that the president has dubbed “Trash Island.”Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the massive outage was linked to a contractor replacing the antiquated system’s old copper wire. Prior to his Sunday social media message, Trump had only said “old broken stuff” was to blame in reported remarks to Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy late Friday.Duffy told reporters defense contractor L3Harris had been working on replacing a section of the system's old copper wire with new fiber wire, and that work somehow caused the system overload. He added that his officials were investigating whether contractor “incompetence” or a faulty router was the cause. After hours of airport chaos — leaving passengers waiting at airports with a gigantic rippling effect that resulted in more than 6,000 cancellations on Saturday — federal officials ended a ground stop order that halted planes across the U.S.More than 9,000 flights were delayed Friday, according to FlightAware. However, some could have been for weather or other issues before the order was issued.The Independent has reached out to Biden officials for comment.