Donald Trump stood before the White House press room cameras on Thursday to carry out a customary presidential responsibility – consoler-in-chief during a period of calamity.
He stated the nation was grieving, expressed his sympathies during “an hour of distress,” and honored first responders and the victims.
Then he abruptly shifted – offering yet another indication of how his renewed presidency is going to be drastically different.
It will be confrontational. It will be spontaneous. And it will be swift to assign fault.
“We do not know what caused this crash, but we have some very strong beliefs and theories,” he stated.
He then speculated, without presenting proof, that relaxed criteria for hiring air traffic controllers in the Federal Aviation Administration during the Joe Biden and Barack Obama administrations might have contributed to the catastrophe.
Trump and his fellow Republicans have frequently criticized “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives in the federal government.
His administration has prioritized dismantling such initiatives in its initial days in office, asserting that they have fractured Americans and weakened the nation.
And less than 24 hours after the first significant U.S. aviation disaster in more than a decade, Trump – along with his secretaries of transportation and defense, and his vice president – took turns emphasizing their argument, even though they provided no verification that federal employment practices were in any way linked to this particular accident.
When questioned by a journalist how he could attribute the crash to diversity initiatives when the probe had only just commenced, the president replied: “Because I have common sense.”
At other instances, he admitted there was no definitive cause, stating, “it’s all under examination.”
Trump claimed the recruitment criteria for the FAA’s diversity and inclusion program included priority for those with impairments such as “hearing, vision, missing limbs, partial paralysis, full paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disorder, and dwarfism.”
An archived version of an FAA diversity and inclusion hiring webpage, which appears to have been removed in December, contained a comparable list. The agency was targeting individuals with “specific disabilities” that the federal government was prioritizing for hiring at that time.
However, it remains uncertain how that initiative to enhance workforce diversity may have influenced the ranks of air traffic controllers, whom President Trump insisted should all be “naturally gifted masterminds.” The FAA has over 35,000 personnel, only a portion of whom carry out that role.
In response to last year’s criticism regarding diversity hiring procedures, the agency issued a statement affirming that all new employees must fulfill “stringent qualifications” that “differ by position.”
The agency has encountered scrutiny over a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to significant disturbances in commercial aviation.
Reports indicate that staffing levels at Reagan airport on Wednesday evening might have been insufficient.
In his comments, Trump explicitly blamed Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he referred to with an obscenity and alleged had driven the department “into ruin.”
Buttigieg defended his performance on social media, calling Trump’s remarks “disgraceful.” “As families mourn, Trump should be leading, not fabricating,” he asserted.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer likewise condemned Trump’s statements.
“It’s one thing for online commentators to spew conspiracy theories, but it’s another for the President of the United States to throw out baseless speculation while bodies are still being recovered,” Schumer remarked.
Once he deviated from his scripted speech, however, conjecture appeared to be what President Trump was most eager to provide.
Along with his denunciation of DEI policies, he elaborated at length on the angles and altitude at which the two aircraft were flying, the meteorological conditions on Wednesday night, the temperature of the Potomac, and the conduct of the Army helicopter.
“We had a situation where we had a helicopter that had the capability to stop,” he noted. “For some reason, it just continued moving.”
But on Thursday night, the White House reinforced its stance on blaming his predecessor and DEI policies. The president authorized a memorandum to terminate diversity efforts in the aviation industry and to reassess all hiring choices and modifications to safety regulations made during the Biden administration. He also enacted an executive order appointing a new head of the FAA.
Two things were undeniably evident from Trump’s statements on Thursday.
The first is that his willingness to immerse himself in a major news event remains unshaken in his new tenure. And the second is that, in his perspective, it is never too early to inject politics.
