Following the tragic crash of an American Airlines jet with an Army helicopter in an accident that killed 67 people, President Donald Trump and other Republicans have raised criticisms of incompetence and negligence that could implicate pilots and other transportation officials. At the same time, questions have been raised about the role of Trump-initiated policies and the effect they may have on airline safety.
Neither Trump nor any of the other figures leveling these charges have specifically named a single person involved in the accident or policy related to the accident, but instead have made incendiary comments—usually attacking diversity as part of the administration’s anti-civil rights posturing.
In the earliest hours on Thursday as news of the crash was breaking, Trump jumped to his social media account to speculate about the actions of the Army pilot.
“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
Trump was not in possession of an FAA analysis of the crash and the investigation had not even begun in earnest at the time of his posting. While Trump is not an expert in aviation issues, he did operate a failed airline, Trump Shuttle, at one time.
Trump also issued a memorandum on Thursday directing Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to review hiring standards implemented by the Biden administration. In the memo, Trump complained, “the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”
In reality, the FAA created a program to recruit people with targeted disabilities in 2019, when Trump was in office.
Alina Habba, who serves as counselor to the president in the White House, appeared on Fox News on Friday to discuss Trump’s attacks on hiring standards. She continued the administration’s rhetoric, casting aspersions on those hired before Trump was sworn in.
Alina Habba: “We cannot have sloppy, lazy and inappropriate hires, because American people are going to suffer and die.”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-31T14:53:37.322Z
“Intelligent people need to be put in these spaces. We cannot have sloppy, lazy, and inappropriate hires, because American people are going to suffer and die,” she said.
Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison similarly told Fox Business that “the FAA is riddled with DEI problems.”
The comments echo Trump’s bluster in his press conference after the crash, in which he attacked the Biden and Obama administrations, diversity programs, and even dwarfism. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg remarked that Trump’s rhetoric was “despicable” and noted that Trump was grinding a political axe “as families grieve.”
The Trump administration, with a large assist from multibillionaire Elon Musk, is mounting a full-scale assault on the federal government. Trump is attempting to cut oversight in key areas while pushing for staffing cuts that inevitably will lead to mismanagement, chaos—and more deadly incidents like the plane crash in question.
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