In a press briefing conducted by Donald Trump in the aftermath of the shocking collision between a passenger aircraft and a military helicopter in Washington DC, the new US president remarkably made the baseless suggestion that the blame might lay at the hands of previous administrations.

He was keen to point out that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes had led to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring people of “severe intellectual disabilities” and other “mental or physical issues”.

He repeatedly insisted that air traffic controllers hired during Joe Biden’s presidency were of low standard and moving forward under his leadership they will only be “the brightest, smartest, sharpest, psychologically superior people of the highest level of genius”.

He switched his opinion on fault back and forward between the air traffic controller and the pilot of the helicopter, even though the investigation into the tragic collision had only been underway for a matter of hours.

The American Association of People With Disabilities responded to the president’s remarks with an insistence that it was extremely inappropriate for him to use the tragedy to push an anti-diversity hiring agenda.

Turning a tragedy into scoring political points

What should have been a respectful address by the head of state offering words of comfort to the grieving families of the 67 passengers who lost their lives, turned into an opportunity for President Trump to score points against the Democrats.

It did not come as any real surprise that he managed to quickly inject politics into a national tragedy by using it to advance one of his chief agendas, but even so his failure to take into account the feelings of the bereaved and just concentrate on a supportive message, still shocked many onlookers.

Common Sense

He was dismissive when asked if he was getting ahead of himself in blaming DEI, he simply explained his reasoning as being the fact that he had “common sense” and “a lot of other people don’t”.

Then switching back to low standards of ability amongst the air traffic controllers, he again insisted that for such a role there was a requirement for “brain power and psychological quality”.

Unqualified opinion

President Trump then returned to the helicopter pilot and said that he had heard tapes that clarified that the two aircraft were at the same height and the pilot of the Black Hawk was coming at an angle that “was unbelievably bad”.

He repeated a comment that he had posted earlier in the day, when he stated that it was a clear night and the pilot should have had the ability to make the necessary adjustment and easily avoid the passenger plane.

Situational awareness mix up?

What he failed to mention, perhaps because he had not taken the time to fully acquaint himself with all the facts available, was that the soldiers in the helicopter were wearing night vision glasses.

Many aviation experts who spoke out in the hours after the collision explained that when wearing them it can affect peripheral vision and there was a possibility that the incident could have been a situational awareness issue.

At the very same time as air traffic control contacted the helicopter to check that they had seen the incoming plane, a second plane had just taken off and a theory has been circulated that perhaps the pilot was focussing on the wrong plane.

Crew were experienced

Although it was a training exercise, the crew of the helicopter were experienced.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the ranks of the three soldiers killed were a young captain, a staff sergeant and a chief warrant officer.

Firings around the corner?

Mr Trump suggested he may well make sweeping changes at federal aviation agencies, once again hinting at DEI when he said: “There could be firings if we find that people aren’t mentally competent”.

He maintained his opinion despite the fact that the crash has yet to be fully investigated and there has been no determination as to whether the FAA did anything wrong at all.

Criticism from disabled community

His discriminatory attitude drew a strong reaction from the American Association of People With Disabilities, who wrote on X that “FAA employees with disabilities did not cause last night’s tragic plane crash; the investigation into the crash is still ongoing.

“It is therefore extremely inappropriate for the President to use this tragedy to push an anti-diversity hiring agenda and in doing so it makes all Americans less safe.”