*The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) condemned President Donald Trump for attributing the deadly plane crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
During a press conference Thursday, Trump accused former Presidents Obama and Biden of lowering the qualification standards for air traffic controllers. He read from a 2024 New York Post article that said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was “actively recruiting workers who suffer ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”
Trump did not present any evidence linking DEI policies to the crash. When questioned about how he could make such a connection despite the ongoing investigation, he responded, “Because I have common sense.”
The CBC called his remarks “truly disgusting” and a “disgraceful display of racist political prognostication.”
Per The Hill, the CBC added, “President Trump, without evidence or regard for the gravity and solemnity of this incident in which American lives were lost, held a press conference to falsely blame the diversity initiatives of past administrations for the cause of this incident. Not only are the President’s claims untrue, they also speak to the Republican Party’s desire to divide us as a country.”
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According to the CBC, DEI initiatives represent “American values” and “work to benefit all Americans who have traditionally been kept out of opportunities, including white women, veterans, and aging Americans, not just the Black and minority communities that Trump and Republicans want to scapegoat and villainize for political gain.”
It’s worth noting that white women have been the primary beneficiaries of DEI policies.
The FAA’s job listing for air traffic controllers includes opportunities for individuals with disabilities, including psychiatric and intellectual conditions. This hiring language has been present on the FAA’s website since at least 2013 and remained in place throughout Trump’s first presidency, as previously reported by Snopes. An archived version of the page from December 2020 confirms its existence during Trump’s administration.
Dan McLaughlin pointed out at National Review, “that Trump has actually moved to fix a problem with how we hire air-traffic controllers, in order to reorient it toward hiring the best people in order to make air-traffic control safer.”
It is factually accurate that since Obama’s administration, the FAA has allowed individuals with intellectual, psychiatric, and physical disabilities to receive DEI protections. The archived 2013 version of the FAA’s website and its “diversity and inclusion” page states:
“Diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond,” the page read. “Because diversity is so critical, FAA actively supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds. Our people are our strength, and we take great care in investing in and valuing them as such.”
Part of the agency’s push to be more diverse and inclusive included hiring those with “targeted disabilities.”
“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring. They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”
Current job listing for an air traffic controller on the FAA’s website is open to people with disabilities including psychiatric & intellectual delays.
Doesn’t it make you feel safe knowing your air traffic controller can have an intellectual disability or have a seizure while… pic.twitter.com/7H8QXQ39WR
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 6, 2024
During the Trump administration in 2019, the FAA announced “a pilot program to help prepare people with disabilities for careers in air traffic operations” and “identify specific opportunities for people with targeted disabilities, empower them and facilitate their entry into a more diverse and inclusive workforce.”
In an archived page from December 2024, the FAA noted that it aimed to hire “people with severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities.” The initiative was last updated on March 23, 2022, according to Fox News.
In a Feb. 6 post, the popular X account Libs of TikTok wrote, “Doesn’t it make you feel safe knowing your air traffic controller can have an intellectual disability or have a seizure while directing your flight? DEI will get people k*ll*d.”
American Eagle Flight 5342 was traveling from Wichita to Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, when it collided midair with a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C. The crash claimed the lives of all 64 passengers and crew members aboard the commercial plane, as well as the three crew members on the military helicopter. No one survived the collision.
“This is a tragedy that occurred above DCA airport,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Thursday.
“Lives have been lost. Families have been devastated. People are suffering, and the leader of this country decides to go out and peddle lies, conspiracy theories and attack people of color and women without any basis whatsoever. Have you no decency? Have you no respect for the families whose lives have been turned upside down?” Jeffries added, per The Hill.
Rev. Al Sharpton also reacted to Trump’s remarks linking DEI hires to the crash, stating, “For Donald Trump to blame DEI or Presidents Biden and Obama for this horrific event, while first responders are still pulling bodies out of the Potomac, is a callous disregard for the dozens of lost lives, their families, and their loved ones.”
He added, “It doesn’t matter if these were DEI hires or Ivy League hires. What matters is the families who are grieving, who do not want to see this moment politicized by a president bent on peeling back DEI policies,” Sharpton said. “This only goes to show President Trump wants to use Black, Brown, LGBTQ, disabled, or other disadvantaged Americans as the scapegoat for anything bad that happens in this nation.”
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: With ZERO Evidence Trump Blames (Obama, Biden) DEI Policies for Fatal DC Plane and Helicopter Crash | VIDEO+Reactions
