Critics continue to take aim at the president for targeting minorities and women rather than focusing his attention on the deadly DCA plane collision that took 67 lives.
Diversity programs for federal aviation workers that President Donald Trump railed against on Thursday following the deadly plane-helicopter collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were actually launched and upheld during his first term, a new report by The Washington Post has found.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion policies for the tragedy that took 67 lives, claiming that the hiring programs set “mediocre” standards and were pushed by both his predecessor and successor, former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
“Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse,” President Trump bemoaned. “A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” he added.
Despite Trump’s criticism of an air controller hiring system instituted by President Obama that introduced a biographical questionnaire to attract minorities, the Washington Post reports that the policy remained in place during Trump’s first term. Trump claimed on Thursday that he changed the policy. Another program focused on “targeted disabilities,” which received the most vitriol from the president on Wednesday, was actually launched in 2019 during the first Trump administration.
Trump’s White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Friday press briefing that when it comes to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the president believes “people should not be hired based on their disabilities, based on their skin color, their gender, their race.” She added, “None of that matters.”
Critics of the Trump administration’s stance on DEI argue that the federal government has always prioritized qualification for hiring and that DEI policies were instituted to open up a wider pool of qualified candidates. Some Democrats and advocates have called President Trump’s recent remarks and executive actions related to DEI “racist.”
“We don’t need misdirection, and we don’t need misinformation coming from the highest office in the land. We need integrity. We need decency. We need leadership,” House of Representatives Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said during a press conference on Friday. “There is not a scintilla of evidence that exists to suggest that women and people of color are to blame for the tragedy that took place.”
President Trump himself admitted that he did not know for sure that DEI was a cause for the DCA plane collision, despite suggesting so hours earlier.
Other critics also pointed to Trump’s terminations of key aviation officials, including the heads of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard, and disbanding the Aviation Security Advisory Committee.
“Donald Trump removed people responsible for air traffic safety, leading to the first air collision in 16 years. Instead of acknowledging his incompetence, Trump used this tragedy to spew lies and sow division by blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion policies (DEI),” said Black Voters Matters co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright said in a joint statement.
The civil and voting rights activists said Trump’s Thursday remarks were “baseless and despicable,” adding, “The ongoing attacks on DEI are a direct attack on Black and marginalized communities. While he continues to utilize white supremacy as a weapon for political gain, we will not be used as his scapegoat.”
Brown and Albright also took aim at President Trump’s executive actions eliminating DEI across the entire federal government, which has resulted in some federal agencies issuing notices eliminating observances like Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Black History Month and others.
“Some may say these are just holidays, but we know that these efforts are part of a more sinister scheme to quiet, erase, and promote violence and harm against Black and marginalized communities,” said Black Voters Matter. “Trump’s willingness to exploit a deadly plane crash while simultaneously working to dismantle cultural observances shows exactly who he is – a man desperate to rewrite history through a white nationalist lens.”
On Friday, Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, affirmed that the president would soon sign a proclamation observing Black History Month — as he did every year during his first term — despite conflicting reporting and statements about the observance. When asked if federal agencies that have issued guidances not to observe BHM should follow suit, Leavitt said, “The president is leading here at the White House and I’ll leave it to the proclamation that he will sign very soon.”
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