IN THE WAKE of the catastrophic aircraft collision in Washington DC yesterday, US President Donald Trump used a press briefing to lay the blame at the feet of his Democratic predecessors and anti-discrimination policies at government agencies. 

The collision at Ronald Reagan National Airport – the first major crash in the United States since 2009 – occurred as American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas came in to land and was struck by a US military helicopter. 

All 64 of the people on the plane and the three soldiers on board the Black Hawk helicopter died in the crash, although many bodies are yet to be recovered.

Trump started his White House briefing with a moment of silence in what he called an “hour of anguish for a nation.”

But he quickly pivoted to casting blame – and leaning into culture war politics.

He blamed the helicopter pilots, among other things, for the crash. 

“We have some very strong opinions,” Trump announced.

Above all though, Trump blamed the crash on policies aimed at preventing racism, sexism and discrimination against people with disabilities in the workplace.

He specifically referred to a Fox News segment that said people with intellectual disabilities were being hired by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It is not true, however, that the FAA was hiring people with intellectual disabilities as air traffic controllers.  

“Because I have common sense, OK? ” Trump replied when asked how he had reached the conclusion that programs to counter racism and sexism had played a role.

Trump alleged that hiring practices at the FAA, which has responsibility for air traffic control, were to blame for the mid-air crash that killed 67 people. 

“They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent,” Trump said.

He also aimed criticism directly at Biden’s openly gay transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who he labelled “a disaster”. 

“He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.

The message was hammered home as Vice President JD Vance and new defence secretary Pete Hegseth took turns at the podium to repeat – without evidence – the far-right theory that diversity measures keep capable people out of responsible jobs.

Asked again by reporters whether he was blaming workplace diversity for the crash, Trump answered: “It could have been.”

Buttigieg responded on X, calling Trump “despicable.”

“As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” he said.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy posted that Trump’s comments “blaming the FAA’s hiring of women and black people for the crash – was disgusting.”

“He’s in charge. This happened on his watch,” Murphy said.

Trump later issued an official memo directing the government to investigate “deterioration in hiring standards” under Biden and “replacement” of anyone unqualified.

Revoking policies aimed at fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in government bodies has been a major theme of Trump’s presidency since he took office on 20 January. 

The Republican president has signed a slew of executive orders aimed at reducing the number of federal employees and the power of many government bodies, including one now rescinded order that froze vast amounts of funding for federal agencies.

The process of rescinding what the Trump administration calls “woke” policies has been so scattershot that it even resulted in the deletion of a video that encouraged government employees to simplify language in public documents, by using pronouns. 

Leaderless and understaffed FAA

At the time of the crash at Reagan National, the FAA was without a leader because its former chief had resigned earlier this month after the Trump’s major donor and ally Elon Musk called on him to do so. 

As head of the FAA, Mike Whitaker had grounded Musk’s Starship rockets after one of the SpaceX ships exploded during a launch on 16 January, raining fiery debris over the Caribbean. 

Whitaker’s resignation came at a time when the FAA was facing long-running staff shortages in air traffic control towers, although during his tenure some progress had been made in hiring new controllers.   

Trump announced yesterday that he was appointing a new acting commissioner of the FAA. 

Since the crash at Reagan National Airport, it has emerged that the air traffic control tower was understaffed, with one controller taking responsibility for plane and helicopter traffic – which are usually handled separately. 

The airport is an extremely busy transport hub, where civilian and military aircraft are constantly coming and going. 

Just 24 hours before the collision, another plane coming in to land at Reagan National had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path, The Washington Post and CNN reported, citing an audio recording from air traffic control.

The control tower at Reagan International, as of September 2023, had 19 fully certified controllers while the targets set by the FAA and controllers’ union called for 30, according to the New York Times.

Before the FAA announced its 2024 hiring totals of just over 1,800 new controllers, the agency had said it was short 3,000 across the country as of May, according NBC4 Washington, which cited Airlines for America.

Understaffing leads to controllers regularly working overtime, which can result in potentially deadly fatigue.