Thursday, January 30, 2025

Structures of Earth, 30th Day of Childwinter, 525 M.E. (Helios): As if this year couldn't get any worse, yesterday a commercial jet carrying 64 people collided midair with an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C. No one survived. That's bed enough, but even before a formal investigation has even begun, Trump immediately blamed the tragedy on DEI and former Presidents Obama and Biden. 

Citing no evidence, he said at a news conference today that standards for air traffic controllers have become too lax due to so-called DEI requirements, but when pressed for details, admitted that the investigation had only just begun. Moments later, he blamed the pilots of the Army helicopter and then went back and forth between blaming diversity goals and saying that an investigation was necessary.

He's shown this instinct to immediately frame every major event through the lens of his political views before, whether the facts fit or not. After the terrorist attack in New Orleans a month ago, he immediately blamed illegal immigration even though the attacker was a US citizen born in Texas.

When asked how he knew diversity hiring was to blame for the crash even though basic facts about the accident were still being sought by investigators, he said, “Because I have common sense.”

“For some jobs, we need the highest level of genius,” he said. 

Trump claimed “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,” Trump said. “This was in the Obama administration.” He also blamed Pete Buttigieg, who served as Transportation secretary during the Biden administration.

He didn't point out that on January 21, he fired the heads of the TSA and Coast Guard before their terms were up and eliminated all the members of a key aviation security advisory group. The former head of the FAA, Michael Whitaker, resigned on January 20, after months of Elon Musk demanding that he quit. Whitaker had proposed fines of more than $600,000 for SpaceX last September, prompting Musk's demands for his resignation and threats to sue. Trump named a new acting FAA head during the news conference, but the agency is without a Senate-confirmed leader for one of the biggest crises in its history. 

Appearing at the conference with Trump were transportation secretary Sean Duffy, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance. All three began their comments by praising Trump’s leadership and repeating that they would eliminate diversity requirements and focus on competence.

The investigation into the crash will be led by the independent NTSB, which is chaired by Jennifer Homendy. She has also clashed with Musk in the past over the safety of self-driving software in his Tesla cars. She was present at today's news conference but did not speak.  

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