Evaluation of Example 10: U.S. Commercial Airline Safety Record

Passage:

Southwest Airlines Engine Failure April 17, 2018; first U.S. airline fatality since 2009. Source: Cockpit Voice Recorder Database, Tailstrike.com. “Donald Trump: “Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news — it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!”

Donald Trump, Twitter Tweet (January 2, 2018) quoted in David A. Graham, “Trump's False Claim of Credit for Aviation Safety,” The Atlantic (January 2, 2018).

Analsyis:

The fallacy of false cause is suggested by the juxtaposition of the statements indicating Trump was strict (in some unstated regard) on U.S. commercial aviation and consequently the airline safety record for that year was, in his words, “the safest on record.” The president is suggesting the event of his strictness with commercial aviation caused the U.S. airlines“ safest year on record.” Apparently, he was unaware that no U.S. airlines had had a fatal accident since 2009. The first commercial airline commercial fatality since 2009 occurred April 17, 2018 on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 by an engine explosion in his second year of office.