Let's Not Prejudge Before The Investigation
Trump began his press conference about the collision by reading statement that someone wrote to make him sound human. But when he was done reading, the real Señor Trumpanzee came right out. He went from requesting a moment of silence for the victims and their families to attacking Obama for having inferior air traffic controllers (which he claimed he changed) and Biden for lowering the intellectual standards of the controllers (another lie). And he continued lying for the next half hour. One lie was that the FAA was using DEI for hiring air traffic controllers who were “people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.” Watch it if you can stand it.
Isaac Arnsdorf reported that “Trump’s comments prompted rebukes from both Republicans and Democrats on Thursday, many of whom said the president was politicizing a tragedy and using it to further his agenda to reduce the federal workforce and end diversity programs. ‘I would caution folks, especially my conservative friends on my side of the aisle, let’s hold off on all the finger-pointing,’ Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), a member of the House Transportation Committee, said on CNN. Trump made himself the face of the tragedy and the center of the story, as he did in his first term with daily briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, an impulse some advisers said did not always help him politically— but that he could not always resist.”
Trump, a virulent lifelong racist, “has previously blamed diversity for problems ranging from inflation to weakening the military.” Another racist scumbag, “Elon Musk and other Republican allies have suggested diversity as a contributor to Los Angeles’ wildfire response, the collapse of Baltimore’s Key Bridge, the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, and security failures leading to the July 2024 assassination attempt against Trump. ‘At these moments you’re supposed to take a solemn note of respect. That’s what we do in America when tragedy occurs,’ presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said. ‘But Trump tried to use it as an opportunity to push the MAGA 2025 agenda in a nonsensical way.’”
Before being hired, air traffic controllers go through mental and physical testing so rigorous that few make it through the training. They have to pass an entrance exam, attend an academy, and achieve certification for every position they hold. Consideration for people with disabilities is a long-standing, government-wide policy that does not apply to hiring air traffic controllers, according to a former FAA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
…Several members of Trump’s new Cabinet joined him in the White House briefing room to amplify his message blaming diversity for the disaster.
David Sanger reported that Trump blamed diversity requirements at the Federal Aviation Administration and his two Democratic predecessors for the midair collision over the Potomac River on Wednesday night, saying that standards for air traffic controllers had been too lax. Trump cited no evidence, and even admitted when pressed that the investigation had only just begun. Moments later, he blamed the pilots of the Army helicopter that appeared to fly into a passenger jet that was on final approach to Reagan National Airport, across the river from the capital. Trump went back and forth between blaming diversity goals that he said were created by President Obama and President Biden, and then saying that an investigation was necessary. His instant focus on diversity reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens, whether the facts fit or not.”
When asked how he could say that diversity hiring was to blame for the crash even though basic facts about the midair collision were still being sought by investigators, he said, “Because I have common sense.”
“For some jobs, we need the highest level of genius,” he said.
Of the F.A.A. under Obama, Trump said: “They actually came out with a directive, too white.”
…Trump named a new acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration during the news conference; none had been appointed by him until Thursday. The appointee did not speak at the news conference, nor did the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, who was also in the room.
Benjamin Parker pointed out that that after being attacked by Trump, Buttigieg said “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”
Besides, as fact checker Glenn Kessler pointed out last night, the FAA began hiring “handicapped” people during Trump’s first term. “[T]he FAA under Trump in 2019 launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference.” Kessler’s Pinocchio Test” “Trump claimed that he had changed Obama’s criteria for hiring air traffic controllers with greater diversity— when in fact he left it unchanged. Moreover, he decried the fact that FAA hired controllers with a range of disabilities that he listed at the news conference. But that program was launched during his first term.”
The crash is going to be investigated and at that time we may know where the fault is. Until then, most people will debate if it was Trump or Musk who were most responsible. FAA Chief Michael Whitaker was forced to resign from his position by Musk a week and a half ago. Musk hates him because he was suing Space X for $600,000. That’s how Musk uses DOGE to benefit… no one but himself. He should be on trial but more people blame Trump for the accident because he eliminated the membership of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which handles aviation security, at the sometime that he fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.
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