DCA crash puts Trump's appalling unfitness on full display
When crisis hits, he makes it worse.
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Donald Trump’s first actions back in the White House included demolishing an air travel security advisory group, forcing out the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for corrupt reasons, implementing a federal hiring freeze as part of a bigoted rampage against women and people of color1, and sending blanket resignation offers to FAA employees.
Then tragedy struck. Nine days after Trump took office, a military helicopter collided with a passenger jet just above Reagan National Airport (DCA) airport, killing 67 people. A report indicates staffing in DCA’s air traffic control tower at the time of the collision was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
It’s America’s worst aviation disaster since 2001. And it shows the danger of wantonly destroying a federal government whose functioning remains vital for, among other things, keeping air travelers safe.
Does the new president have regrets about any of this? Of course not. Instead, Trump responded to the disaster by appointing an acting FAA head a day late and a dollar short, then held a dystopian media event where he signed an order pinning blame for the crash on Biden, Obama, and the Democratic Party in general. (Watch below.)
The federal government is supposed to protect the US in the event of disaster, natural and man-made. But Trump — in his first term and already in his second — operates as if government has no duty to care or protect.
In Trump’s vision of America, government only exists to serve his ego and salve his narcissistic wounds. He fires people, destroys capacity, shutters programs, and stampedes about as if his actions have no consequences beyond cable news and his approval ratings.
Investigators do not yet know the cause of the crash. But what we do know is that Trump’s manifest unfitness to be president was on full display both in his actions leading up to it and in his response.
Government is important. We need it to regulate a whole range of things, from food safety to pandemic response to transportation networks. This definitely includes air traffic control. When government fails in these functions, people die. And the fact that Trump is indifferent to his responsibilities and incompetent to fulfill them means that we can expect more and more deadly accidents in every aspect of society regulated by the federal government — which is every aspect of society.
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Destroying the FAA makes no one safer
While many questions remain unanswered about Wednesday’s disaster, there’s no doubt that Trump and his chief billionaire hench-stooge Elon Musk rushed to sow chaos in the FAA as soon as they came into office.
One of the first things Musk did following Trump’s inauguration was to force FAA chief Michael Whittaker from office. Whittaker, as part of his duties, fined Musk for failing to get approval for SpaceX rocket launches. Regulating launches is a vital safety measure, but Musk thinks he’s too important to play by the rules. So he decided to make everyone in the country less safe and called on Whittaker to resign, which he did on inauguration day.
Trump and Musk were quick to force Whittaker out, but they were nonchalant about replacing him. That means the FAA faced its first major aviation disaster in 16 years with no leader. In a telling moment, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy walked away from reporters on Thursday morning instead of answering a simple question about who was in charge of the FAA, perhaps because he didn’t know. (Watch below.)
Trump couldn’t be bothered to name an acting director until later Thursday, when the crash embarrassed him into appointing Christopher Rocheleau as acting administrator.
But Trump didn’t stop at decapitating the FAA. In his first week in office, he did everything he could to compromise safety for air travelers. He fired the head of the Transportation Security Agency and Coast Guard; he also eliminated the entire aviation security advisory committee.
Trump froze the hiring of all federal civilian employees. With help from Musk, he also offered a confused, coercive, and possibly mendacious “buyout” to federal employees in an effort to disembowel the federal government and fill its carcass with MAGA loyalists.
Among the targeted employees for the hiring freeze and “buyouts” are air traffic controllers. This contradicts a 2024 law, passed with bipartisan support, that instructs the federal government to hire the maximum number of air traffic controllers and leave no positions unfilled as a crucial safety measure. But even after the plane crash, Republicans in Congress were promising $16 billion in cuts to the transportation budget.
Thomas Schaller, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Circle, warned of the dangers of air traffic understaffing mere hours before the crash.
“An FAA employee I know confirms agency already lacks sufficient air traffic controllers. The so-called ‘buyouts’ and other attacks on federal employees won’t help,” he tweeted. “Remember that fact when the flight delays (crashes?) commence and Trumpers start falsely blaming DEI or Biden.”
While his tweet was certainly prescient, Schaller noted after the crash that he doesn’t know if Trump’s actions contributed to it. The new president, however, had no reservations about claiming omniscient insight into the causes — demonstrating once again his recklessness and refusal to even pretend to care about trying to prevent further loss of life.
Trump will never help
The reason Schaller did not want to weigh in on the cause of the crash without evidence is obvious. You don’t want to prejudge an accident because if you do, you might implement changes that aren’t needed, and neglect to implement ones that are. In addition, loose speculation about possible causes, without evidence, can cause great pain to family members who want an honest accounting of their loved ones’ deaths.
Trump, though, doesn’t care about preventing deaths and doesn’t care about the pain of survivors. All he cares about is advancing his own agenda of hate and division, and he made that clear during his press conference yesterday.
"We do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now,” he began, irresponsibly.
Trump’s “strong opinion”? That women and people of color are somehow at fault. Asked why he thinks the crash was the result of “diversity hiring” — that is, employing anyone who is not a cishet Christian white man —Trump responded “it just could have been.” (Watch below.)
The gathered press were understandably skeptical. One reporter asked how Trump could be sure the crash was caused by DEI when there is, again, no evidence that’s the case.
“Because I have common sense, ok?” Trump responded huffily. “And unfortunately a lot of people don't.” (Watch below.)
Trump vowed he would fire more “diversity hires.” Notably, however, he did not promise to wait for the investigation and to implement its recommendations. And when he was asked if blaming DEI was going to comfort the families of the victims, Trump answered, “That’s not a very smart question.”
Later in the day, Trump was asked if he planned to visit the crash site. He responded in the most callous manner imaginable.
“I have no plan to visit, because, you tell me, what’s the site? The water? Do I want to go swimming?” he said.
Trump’s performance on Wednesday was dismal and disgusting. It’s clear he should be nowhere near power. But voters should’ve figured that out long ago.
The blame game is his only game
It’s been clear at least since Trump tweeted “appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism” following a mass shooting in Orlando in June 2016 that his only response to disasters is to search for scapegoats and gin up hatred.
Following the failed federal response to the devastating Puerto Rico landfall of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Trump snarlingly attacked Puerto Rican officials for “such poor leadership.” Similarly, in press conferences and statements during the covid pandemic — which he made worse by firing the government’s pandemic preparedness team — Trump blamed blue state governors and China over and over, utterly indifferent to the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes his rhetoric inspired.
Trump’s bigotry is both a strategy and a goal. He wants to harm marginalized people, especially ones who oppose him politically, and targeting them provides a good way to deflect blame. Within this perfect orange circle of hate and self-aggrandizement, there’s no space for addressing real problems, anticipating and forestalling disasters, or comforting and helping victims and survivors.
Trump ran on a platform of hate — remember the campaign events when he was flanked by mugshots of Latino men? — and it worked well enough to return him to the Oval Office. Now that he’s there, his response to a plane crash is the same as his response to a pandemic he mishandled, or hurricanes, or undocumented border crossings.
To every issue and crisis facing us, and to the families who just lost their loved ones in a senseless tragedy, Trump offers only hate and lies. His presidency is one long crisis that he continuously inflames, a perpetual Reichstag fire. It’s just unfortunate that it’s again taking preventable deaths for Americans to figure it out.
That’s it for this week
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Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.
There is some controversy over whether the federal hiring freeze encompasses air traffic controllers or not. The document outlining the freeze doesn’t specifically mention an exemption for air traffic controllers, but does except jobs related to “public safety.” Nonetheless, a number of Democratic members of Congress read the document as being tantamount to a hiring freeze for air traffic positions.
His followers will believe whatever he says about the crash and when we do (if)
find out what actually happened they we not believe it. He is disgusting.
As a woman I look at other women and think how could you have voted for this?
His BS is not going to go away when he leaves office or drops dead. He has plenty
of minions willing to continue onwards.
The Potomac's Grief
On January 30, 2025, after a military helicopter collided with a passenger jet above Reagan National Airport killing 67 people, including a team of U.S. figure skaters, Trump responded to questions about visiting the crash site by saying, "I have no plan to visit, because, you tell me, what's the site? The water? Do I want to go swimming?"
*************************
I am the Potomac River. For centuries I have cradled this capital in my waters, witnessed its triumphs and tragedies, felt the weight of history in my depths. Now I cradle something else: fragments of metal, personal belongings, and things too precious to name.
Sixty-seven souls. Among them, young athletes who once danced on ice, who turned frozen water into art, who wore their nation's colors with pride. Now my liquid waters hold them instead of their familiar ice. Parents, children, lovers, friends - all committed to my care in a moment of fire and metal. My waters hold their final moments with the reverence they deserve. Each ripple a prayer, each wave a remembrance.
The families come to my banks. They stand in silent vigil, their tears joining my waters, their grief becoming part of my flow. Some bring flowers. Some just stare into my depths. Some whisper names I now know by heart. A mother holds her daughter's ice skates, touching their blades to my surface in a final farewell. I hold their sorrow as gently as I hold their loved ones.
"Do I want to go swimming?"
The words float across my surface like oil, toxic and slick. The President of the United States, asked about paying respects to the dead, turns their resting place into a punchline. Mocks the sacred water where divers still search, where Coast Guard boats still patrol, where families still wait for answers.
I have seen presidents come to my shores in times of tragedy. Seen them bow their heads, lay wreaths, offer words of comfort. Seen them understand that these waters, now holding American lives - including young athletes who died wearing America's flag - deserve dignity and respect.
But this one turns grief into a joke. Makes my depths, now a cemetery, into a swimming pool reference.
I am the Potomac River. I hold these souls with reverence. I guard their final rest with dignity. I merge their stories with my eternal flow.
And I will remember the man who thought their resting place worthy only of mockery.
Long after he is gone, I will still be here. Still holding these precious souls. Still witnessing. Still remembering.
Still knowing the difference between those who honor the dead, and those who turn their graves into punchlines.
*****
Find more voices bearing witness to our democracy in crisis at https://barryfinland.substack.com and in my book “NO! a response to donald j. trump”. Available at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DVRLG6NP