Moments after first responders declared 67 dead in the tragedy of American Airlines Flight 5342, President Trump politicizes the plane crash while simultaneously decrying Democratic politicization.
Washington, D.C.—As the nation mourns the devastating midair collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport on January 30, which claimed the lives of 64 passengers and crew members on Flight 5342 in addition to 3 service members on a Blackhawk helicopter, President Donald Trump has seized the moment to push his long-standing agenda against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for federal employees.
The collision between a regional commercial jet and a military helicopter has sent shockwaves through the aviation community, prompting an intense investigation into what went wrong. But before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) or the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) could release any preliminary findings, Trump took to social media and a campaign rally to lay blame squarely on DEI initiatives within the FAA.
“This is exactly what happens when you prioritize woke policies over real safety,” Trump declared to his supporters earlier this month. Just days prior to the crash, Trump had ordered a sweeping rollback of DEI programs across federal agencies, including the FAA, asserting that these policies had led to the hiring of unqualified personnel in critical roles.
Just moments after officials declared the 67 victims dead in the crash, likely due to outdated triangulation-locator equipment on the Blackhawk, Trump held a press conference before officials could begin piecing together what happened in the crowded airspace around Washington DC.
With less than a third of the bodies found at the site, and with experts arriving at the site to determine the cause of the crash, Donald Trump had already come to his conclusions about the cause of the crash. As he stated earlier in January on social media, “The Biden FAA specifically recruited and hired individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric issues and complete paralysis over other individuals who sought to work for the FAA.”
While crews were still at the site of the crash and after a brief mention of heartbrokenness, Trump spent most of his time the morning of the 30th plane crash addressing reporters, steering back and forth between criticism of the Joe Biden Administration and the FAA’s push to hire under-represented workers. While politicizing the tragedy, he complained about Democratic politicization.
I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office. And here’s one, the FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce said ‘they want them in, and they want them, they can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so. This was January 14, so that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA’s program,” Trump said.“Brilliant people have to be in those positions, and their lives are actually shortened, very substantially shortened because of the stress where you have many, many planes coming into one target, and you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it.
Trump’s remarks have sparked outrage among aviation professionals and civil rights advocates, who argue that his attacks on DEI are both premature and wildly baseless. “There is absolutely no evidence at this time to suggest that diversity hiring had anything to do with this tragic accident,” said David Klein, a retired FAA administrator. “Trump’s comments are nothing more than an opportunistic attempt to weaponize tragedy for his political gain.”
The FAA has long maintained that its DEI initiatives are designed to broaden the talent pool by ensuring opportunities for all qualified candidates, not to lower safety or hiring standards. In fact, many experts argue that diversifying the workforce has led to a more robust and capable aviation sector.
Despite Trump’s claims, aviation safety experts emphasize that the focus should remain on understanding the root causes of the crash, not political scapegoating. The NTSB has yet to release any official findings, but preliminary reports suggest that factors such as air traffic control decisions, mechanical failures, or pilot error could have played a role.
For many, Trump’s rhetoric is a chilling preview of his potential second term.
This is at least the second time within the first month of President Trump’s second term in office where he has exploited a tragedy for political and personal gain.
As the investigation unfolds, one thing remains clear: Trump’s attempt to dismantle DEI programs in response to this crisis is not about safety—it’s about politics. And for those committed to protecting both diversity and public safety, the fight is far from over.
