After President Donald Trump’s recent unhinged press conference — on the Potomac plane crash, not the one announcing the launch of Trump Gaza — I thought of Ronald Reagan.

On Jan. 13, 1982, a plane taking off in Washington — from what would eventually be renamed Reagan National airport — crashed into a bridge over the Potomac River and plunged into the icy waters, killing 78 people. Lenny Skutnik, a printing assistant at the Congressional Budget Office, was a bystander on the scene, watching a helicopter lowering a rescue line to passengers in the water. Priscilla Tirado was too weak to grab hold of it. Skutnik dived into the waters, swam to Tirado and dragged her safely to the riverbank.