Trump Has Short, Sobering Quote Before Signing Executive Orders in Wake of DC Air Collision

It’s a strange and tragic first crisis for President Donald Trump’s administration to confront, and an unpredictable one at that: the collision of an American Airlines commuter plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport just outside of Washington, D.C.

The crash, which killed 67 people aboard both American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, and the UH-60 helicopter on a training mission, is still in the early investigative phases. However, given that mid-air collisions are unusual — particularly on the approach to a major airport — the spotlight has immediately fallen on the air-traffic controller.

According to The Washington Post, there was only one staffer dealing with helicopter traffic and overseeing active runway operations, a situation described as “not normal” by a source.

Furthermore, CNN reported that just a day before, another airliner — Republic Airways Flight 4514 — was forced to execute a go-around after receiving an automated collision warning because a helicopter was in its flight path.

The left is simultaneously trying to blame the Trump administration’s transportation secretary for the crash (he was on the job all of one day, which makes that a little difficult to argue), while warning the new administration away from politicizing the crash themselves.

Trump blames DEI for deadly plane crash before introducing former Real World Boston cast member and Fox News host Sean Duffy, who he selected to be Secretary of Transportation for some reason.

— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) January 30, 2025

However, the problem is that DEI policies might have played a role in this — and while Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said President Donald Trump is “unfit to lead during moments of crisis” due to his focus on DEI in the Federal Aviation Administration, per the Post, it’s worth noting that Trump’s concern about this predates the crash.

And, for those who would criticize him, he had four words when he signed an executive order getting DEI hiring practices out of the FAA: “In other words, competency.”

So, let’s backtrack a little bit. Beginning during Barack Obama’s administration, the FAA began hiring those with what are called “targeted disabilities,” in order to “empower them and facilitate their entry into a more diverse and inclusive workforce” in air traffic operations.

What are “targeted disabilities,” you might ask? According to a memorandum last updated March 23, 2022, according to Fox News, it includes those with “severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities.”

In fact, the memorandum stated that these individuals could be hired “on-the-spot” with a “non-competitive hiring method” to ensure, one assumes, maximum diversity.

“This excepted authority is used to appoint persons with severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and intellectual disabilities,” the memo said.

“Such individuals may qualify for conversion to permanent status after two years of satisfactory service. Severe physical disabilities include but are not limited to blindness, deafness, paralysis, missing limbs, epilepsy, dwarfism, and more.”

And not only that, as the Washington Times noted last May, these hiring patterns had led to a lawsuit: “More than ten years ago, the Obama Administration scrapped 1,000 qualified candidates. The administration’s justification was that the pool of applicants was not diverse enough, so they would be purged from consideration. Instead of hiring candidates with the most competency, individuals were elevated for hiring consideration based on their race.

“Despite their intent to expand the air traffic control hiring pool via DEI, the FAA has recently admitted they are woefully understaffed and that current air traffic controllers are severely overworked. One report found that only 3 of the 313 air traffic facilities around the nation met the FAA targets last year. This has forced the agency to admit safety could be jeopardized. To mitigate such danger, the agency has ‘at times halted departures or otherwise slowed down air traffic.’”

There is, as they say, a new sheriff in town — and on Jan. 22, Trump’s White House put out a fact sheet regarding a memorandum he’d signed “terminating a Biden Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring policy that prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over safety and efficiency.”

“Millions of Americans rely on safe, timely air travel every day: Safety and competence should be the only job criteria for FAA employees, yet the Biden Administration violated the public trust—as well as the law — by prioritizing illegal DEI hiring,” the fact sheet said.

It added that the Trump administration would require ” the FAA Administrator to review the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure Americans’ flight safety and efficiency.”

On Thursday, one day after the crash, Trump signed an executive order titled the “ Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety” — which, as was explained to him by an aide as he signed it, would “basically ensure that we are actively undoing all of that damage, that we’re assessing how much damage was done.”

The aide also referenced the previous memorandum of Jan. 21, issued before the crash. The orders, the aide said, would ensure the government is selecting “only the most outstanding capable people for the jobs that they’re being hired into.”

“In other words, competence,” Trump said, bluntly.

🚨 #BREAKING: President Trump has just ordered an assessment of damage done to aviation by the Biden administration’s DEI policies

It also orders the FAA to immediately elevate competence over “diversity” in hiring practices

WHY is this even controversial?! pic.twitter.com/BlxKnJFGmE

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 30, 2025

Now, I and everyone else — including, I suspect, President Trump — would concede we don’t know what role the air traffic controller played in the accident, or whether he was the best hire they could find. Neither DEI nor ATC may have had a thing to do with this.

That being said: Are you willing to put your life in the hands of a DEI hire who would otherwise have a disqualifying condition up in the control tower? Are you going to frown upon Trump’s emphasis on doing away with DEI hiring at the FAA because J.B. Pritzker is pointing one of his sausage-like fingers at Trump, calling him “unfit to lead during moments of crisis” and suggesting, by implication, that you’re aiding and abetting bigotry if you support these measures?

Airliner disasters are mercifully rare compared to what they were 30 years ago because of the redundancy that’s been built into the system. That redundancy has to be maintained with vigilance, however — not watered down for wokeness’ sake because it looks good on paper.

We don’t know how all these redundancies broke down so tragically on Wednesday night. With 67 people dead and an identifiable weakness in the system — which may or may not have had a thing to do with the crash, mind you — why shouldn’t we demand “competence”?

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