Trump suggests diversity hiring could have played role in plane crash

Summary

• US President Donald Trump opens fire on his predecessors and the “diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)” policies.

• He doesn’t know what led to this crash but has some very strong opinions and ideas.

• He speculates that the disaster may have been influenced by FAA's lowered hiring standards for air traffic controllers.

United States President Donald Trump has suggested that the midair collision between a passenger aircraft and military helicopter in Washington DC which claimed more than 60 lives could have been caused by diversity hiring, though he provided no evidence to support the allegation.

His remarks came during a press conference in response to a reporter’s question, where he acknowledged that “we don’t know” the cause of the crash and that the investigation is still ongoing.

Despite this, Trump criticised the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, claiming the latter had run the department “right into the ground with his diversity”.

He also slammed the FAA for its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, specifically targeting its commitments to hiring individuals with “severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities”.

According to the BBC, Trump said: “We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas.”

He speculated that the disaster may have been influenced by the FAA's lowered hiring standards for air traffic controllers during the presidencies of Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

According to CNN, when pressed on evidence to substantiate his allegations, the president responded: “I have common sense, OK? Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”

‘It should have been prevented’

Trump had also questioned the actions of a US Army helicopter pilot involved in the midair collision with the commercial airliner.

“Looks like it should have been prevented,” he had said in an earlier post.

“The aeroplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the aeroplane for an extended period of time.

“It is a clear night, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn? Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane,” he added.

Sixty-seven people are believed to have died in the Wednesday evening crash, which occurred when a flight from Wichita, Kansas, was landing at Washington Reagan National Airport.

On Jan 22, it was reported that Trump issued an executive order on eliminating policies he said “prioritised diversity, equity, and inclusion over safety and efficiency” at the FAA.

Forbes stated that his executive order alleges “the Biden FAA specifically recruited and hired individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities,” and his executive order called for the FAA to pivot to “non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring”.

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