Trump's blame game returns after deadly plane crash
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In his first national tragedy, President Trump posted like a pundit, speculated needlessly, and blamed Democrats and DEI without any evidence to suggest either were involved.
Why it matters: The traditional presidential playbook is boring by design — pray for the lost and their families, reassure the public, promise a swift investigation. That has never been Trump's style.
The big picture: Trump has responded to the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation with a similar approach that he took to COVID — which produced arguably the lowest moments of his first term.
- It's vintage Trump: His instincts for bare-knuckle brawling were a huge asset during his four years in the wilderness, helping to fuel a historic political comeback.
- But Trump is president now, not a powerless pundit. His words carry the weight of the U.S. government.
Zoom in: As bodies were still being recovered from the Wednesday night collision outside Reagan National Airport, Trump began a press conference at the White House with a moment of silence and request for national unity.
- Moments later, he pivoted sharply to attacking his Democratic predecessors, Presidents Biden and Obama, and accusing the Federal Aviation Administration of prioritizing diversity over air safety.
- He acknowledged an investigation was needed to determine the exact causes of the crashes, but cited "common sense" when asked how he knew diversity hiring could have played a role.
- "They actually came out with a directive — 'too white,'" Trump claimed of the FAA under Obama. "Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse."
Trump later signed a memo ordering a review of all federal aviation hiring and safety decisions — and explicitly blaming his predecessors for the collision.
- "This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence" in the FAA, the memo alleged.
Reality check: There's no evidence that Obama or Biden's hiring policies at the FAA led to any kind of decline in aviation safety.
- The "disabilities" language that Trump now opposes was in FAA regulations during his entire first term and first appeared around 2013, according to the fact-checking website Snopes.
- The FAA administrator under Biden resigned when Trump took office, and the agency had been leaderless until Trump tapped Chris Rochealeau on Thursday, after the crash.
What they're saying: Democrats reacted with outrage at Trump's finger-pointing, with some lawmakers diverting blame to the president's gutting of a key aviation safety advisory committee and federal hiring freeze.
- "Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," tweeted former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom Trump accused of leading the diversity charge at the FAA.
- "We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch," Buttigieg wrote.
Zoom out: Trump's knee-jerk politicization of the Potomac River crash fits a familiar pattern — one that was on display not only during his first term, but in the weeks before he took office this time.
- After Hurricane Helene ravaged North Carolina, Trump spread baseless conspiracy theories about the Biden administration purposely refusing to help mostly Republican areas and wasting emergency resources on migrants.
- When an American-born Army veteran drove through a crowd in New Orleans on New Year's Day, Trump falsely linked the terror attack to undocumented migrants crossing the border.
- And when the worst wildfires in California history unleashed mass devastation in Los Angeles, Trump blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom's water policies and floated the idea of placing conditions on federal disaster aid.
Flashback: In a post-2020 election autopsy, Trump's own pollster cited the president's handling of COVID as the leading cause of his defeat.
- Trump's daily pandemic press briefings and public attacks on his own health officials wore down the American public, which ultimately saw Biden as the steadier hand.
- Four years in opposition have helped Trump rehabilitate his image. But by reflexively blaming Democrats and DEI for the country's problems, Trump risks a repeat of the dynamics that weakened his first presidency.
