Trump: Diversity Makes Planes Crash

Project 2025's Vilification of BIPOC/Queer Folks Has Unpacked It's Bags in the White House

Remember how badly Trump shit the bed during the Covid-19 pandemic by first vehemently denying its seriousness even as morgues filled with bodies, and later suggesting people inject bleach to prevent infection?

In a time of national tragedy, Trump is up to his same appalling tricks. He blamed the horrific, deadly plane crash on DEI hires in a press conference yesterday.

“The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual abilities, psychiatric problems, and other physical and mental conditions under a diversity hiring initiative spelled out on the agencies website,” he said.

Pressed by a reporter, Trump admitted there were few details about how the crash happened or who the victims were.

“It’s all under investigation,” Trump said.

“I understand that. That’s why I’m trying to figure out right now how you can say that diversity had something to do with this crash,” the reporter asked, gesturing with a pen in his hand.

“Because I have common sense.”

Only in MAGA Land does blaming a horrific tragedy on brown and black people make sense. In fact, based on the little we know from the families that have started to release information, at least two of the pilots were white men. (Of course, I know their race or gender has nothing to do with their skill, and that their deaths are an unfortunate tragedy. May they rest in peace.)

When another reporter pointed out that the website language encouraging a diverse staff also existed under his first administration, Trump denied it. In fact, the part of the aviation website he referenced was added during the Obama administration, meaning it has been there through Obama, Trump, Biden, and Trump again. But Trump is never one to pass up an opportunity to scapegoat.

Trump’s inflammatory accusation is taken straight from the pages of Project 2025, the 920-page book the Heritage Foundation published to guide Trump’s actions in the first six months of his time in office. Despite claiming to know nothing about Project 2025 during the election, almost every action he’s taken since he took office has originated from the problematic playbook.

Project 2025 vilifies diversity at every opportunity, assuming that an agency’s emphasis on diversity automatically disqualifies the talent of its staffers. According to Project 2025, diversity is a scheme to discriminate against white men.

Federal agencies and their components have established so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination, and all departments and agencies have created “equity” plans to carry out these invidious schemes.

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It’s almost as if Project 2025’s authors believe that the whiter the workforce, the more capable it is.

If Trump had any actual common sense, he would know that our government regulatory agencies serve an essential function to the health and safety of Americans. He would understand that stability serves the public good, and chaos causes catastrophe.

But chaos is all the only thing the country has experienced since Trump took office 10 days ago. On the first day of his presidency, Trump signed a flurry of executive orders, pulling the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, pulling out of the World Health Organization, taking down ReproductiveRights.gov, a website that informs women of their rights and bodies, shutting down the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, asserting that only two sexes would be recognized in the United States, which defies basic human biology.

He released 1,500 January 6th criminals back into their communities, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

On Monday, the Office of Budget Management put out a vague memo, claiming that most federal services would be paused, causing panic among agencies that disperse those funds to homeless shelters, food banks, schools, libraries, infrastructure crews, etc. The funding freeze would touch nearly every aspect of our lives, and the public outcry was deafening. By Wednesday, the Trump administration reversed the decision.

On Tuesday, most federal employees received a buyout letter, bribing them to quit their jobs, inciting another round of frustration and confusion as career public servants weighed whether to stop their work or press on with no guarantee their jobs would continue.

I don’t have the time, inclination, or intestinal fortitude to itemize all the ways Trump has fucked up our strength and stability since he took office, so let’s talk about planes again.

Air traffic control has been grossly understaffed for a number of years. I remember stories about it when I first started flying about 20 years ago, and it added to my hesitation to take to the open skies. In 2023 an investigative report disclosed the dangers of air travel in the United States, including problems with understaffing in air traffic control. In 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration documented 1,757 “runway incursions.”

Yesterday’s crash at Reagan Washington National Airport was preempted by a number of near misses at the airport. I flew into Reagan, located Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac from Washington D.C., in June. Just a few months prior a plane operated by Southwest Airlines nearly collided with a JetBlue flight that was using the same runway to take off. In May, an American Airlines jet almost crashed with a small airplane.

Years of high employee turnover and inadequate funding, caused abnormally low levels of staffing, including the night of a crash, according to the FAA. Many air traffic controllers have to work up to six days a week and 10 hours a day just to keep up with the demand of air travel in the U.S.

The problems that already existed were only made worse by the chaos of the incoming administration. On Jan. 21, Trump fired the heads of the TSA and the Coast Guard and gutted an aviation safety advisory committee. An Associated Press story about the purge of some of our most significant safety agencies shows Trump giving a smug thumbs up gesture.

Trump blaming this tragedy on diversity will only insight more hatred and division from conservative white Americans toward the vulnerable members of our society. It gives people permission to vilify BIPOC Americans, women, and queer individuals instead of laying blame where it is due: A haphazard and hate-filled president who thrives on the turmoil he causes.

The worst part of all of this is how much Trump’s calloused words draw attention away from the families of the 67 crash victims, including 14 young, talented figure skaters who were well on their way to representing the U.S. on the world stage.

“We are heartbroken to learn that figure skaters, along with their families, friends and coaches, are understood to be among those on board,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.

“Figure skating is more than a sport — it’s a close-knit family — and we stand together.”

Another loved one’s wife, a passenger, sent him a haunting text to let him know she would be arriving soon. “We’re landing in 20.” Sadly, she was never reunited with him.

May they rest in peace. And may we have the courage to confront disgusting deflections from a cruel and incompetent dictator.

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