President Donald Trump appeared strikingly aloof as questions mounted around him — his cabinet splintering, his leadership under scrutiny and a cascading federal misstep unfolding in full public view.

While critics demanded accountability over a chain of decisions that briefly grounded flights over a major American city, Trump projected calm detachment, as if the controversy belonged to someone else.

Pressed about how his administration managed to shut down the airspace over El Paso after border officials fired a newly deployed Pentagon anti-drone laser at what turned out to be a party balloon, Trump responded with a shrugging dismissal that instantly fueled backlash.

“You mean the way it happened?” he said when asked whether anyone would be held accountable. “People learn,” he said nonchalantly.

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But what critics say Trump reduced to a learning curve exposed a deeper fracture inside his cabinet — one that played out across three departments, left local officials blindsided and briefly grounded flights over a major American city.

The episode began when Customs and Border Protection — which operates under Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — used a laser defense system recently provided by Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department to target what agents believed was a cartel surveillance drone near El Paso. Officials later determined it was likely a party balloon.

Somewhere in El Paso a 7-year-old is filing a FOIA request for the whereabouts of his Spider-Man balloon. pic.twitter.com/9cmXHCHAvj

According to The New York Times, the Federal Aviation Administration, which falls under Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, had not been fully briefed on how the weapon system operated near civilian flight paths. Concerned about safety risks to commercial aircraft operating around El Paso International Airport, FAA officials moved swiftly.

Late Tuesday night, the agency issued a 10-day airspace shutdown.