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As the fallout from the fatal Washington DC air crash continues, all eyes are on President Donald Trump, but swathes of people are less than impressed with his response.
For context, the air crash tragically left 67 people dead, after an American Airlines passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army helicopter above the Potomac River on Wednesday night. Authorities believe nobody on board the passenger jet survived the collision, which occurred when it was flying near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from Wichita, Kansas. A group of young figure skaters returning from a training camp were among the passengers, while a three-person crew was aboard the Black Hawk helicopter for a training session.
As the country reels from the tragedy, however, Trump has used the moment to jump right into the blame-game, casting doubt over the competence of both the helicopter pilots and air traffic controllers in a heartless post on Truth Social. “The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time,” the President wrote. “It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn.”
Trump went on to question why air traffic controllers didn’t “tell the helicopter what to do,” concluding that the crash “is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented.” Doubling down on this impugning approach, Trump later seemed to place blame for the crash on Democrats, suggesting that the DEI hiring initiatives of the Federal Aviation Authority had lowered the standards of air traffic controllers. “I put safety first,” he said in a press briefing following the crash. “Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first.”
The President then attacked what he claimed was an “FAA diversity push” that focussed on “hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities,” as opposed to the “brilliant people [that] have to be in those positions.” When asked what evidence he had to support his claims that DEI hires had caused the crash, Trump said it was “common sense.” Naturally, the President’s response drew harsh criticism from Democrats, with Chuck Schumer saying Trump’s intent on “throw[ing] out idle speculation” is enough to “turn your stomach.”
For his part, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described Trump’s comments as “despicable.” Criticism was also leveled against Trump from beyond politics, with many flocking to social media to condemn his “deeply unserious response,” as one X user wrote. The Truth Social post was described as a “s**tpost [of] misinformation,” and it’s doubtful and insensitive tone was compared to that of other leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Playing him at his own blame-game, many cited Trump’s sweeping changes to FAA, Transportation Security Administration and air traffic control policies in his first week in office as the cause of the air crash. “Trump fired 400 FAA senior officials, the TSA head, and 3,000 air traffic controllers just 8 days ago,” one X user wrote. “Policy choices have consequences.”
That line of criticism was reiterated by Buttigieg, who also mentioned how one of Trump’s first acts “was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe.” The investigation into the crash is ongoing, with authorities not yet concluding that the air traffic controllers or pilots were to blame.