A passenger plane collided with a military helicopter in the skies above Washington DC on Wednesday and the Trump administration is already using the disaster for political clout. In a press conference Thursday to brief reporters on the state of the search and rescue operation, president Donald Trump decided that was the moment to blame diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for the disaster.
The crash late on Wednesday evening saw an American Airlines passenger jet carrying 64 people collide with a military Black Hawk helicopter with three people onboard. Authorities investigating the disaster say they do not expect to find any survivors in the wreckage of the crash.
Where most political leaders would take this moment to share a thought for the families of those impacted or thank first responders for their work in the recovery effort, Trump has used the disaster for his political gains. In a statement yesterday, the “Home Alone 2” actor took aim at DEI initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration. Trump also blamed the previous government for shortcomings that led to the crash, reports Business Insider:
After calling for a moment of silence, Trump spent the bulk of his remarks in the White House briefing room laying out a series of diversity initiatives within the FAA that he suggested could have contributed to the crash, which happened Wednesday evening.
At the same time, Trump repeatedly acknowledged that he did not have direct evidence of a causal link between those initiatives and the crash.
“We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” Trump told reporters.
During his tirade against diversity, Trump repeatedly claimed that he didn’t know the full facts that led to the disaster, even admitting that it could have been “a pilot problem” rather than anything to do with who the FAA employed. But when have facts ever stopped the convicted felon from making outlandish statements before?
As such, he took aim at hiring practices at the FAA and said “we want brilliant people doing this,” adds Bloomberg. The blame game continued and Trump took aim at former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, with the president adding “do you know how badly everything has run since he’s run the Department of Transportation? He’s a disaster...he’s just got a good line of bullshit.” Very presidential comments, I must say.
Buttigieg responded on social media, saying that “Trump should be leading, not lying,” and took steps to defend his record in office.
We might not have to pay attention to Trump’s theories for very long, though, as the black box recorder for both the Black Hawk helicopter and the regional jet involved in the crash have been recovered by authorities.
The two pieces of equipment house an aircraft’s flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. The information stored in the black boxes can help uncover clues into what happened onboard the two aircraft in the lead up to the disaster. Both boxes were transported to National Transportation Safety Board labs late on Thursday night, adds the BBC.
Trump has made DEI initiatives a focus for cuts under his new administration, with a new department led by Elon Musk thought to be targeting cuts of up to $120 billion in federal DEI initiatives. Trump has also signed several executive orders scrapping DEI schemes in his first days in office, including one that targets the FAA specifically.