President Donald J. Trump spent a significant amount of time at the White House Press Briefing room lectern on Thursday morning, railing against “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies that have lumbered American institutions, including the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) with vast numbers of unqualified staff.
The President initially called for a moment of silence before recalling details of the deadly incident over the Potomac River on Wednesday night and laying out the details of those who had lost their lives, currently believed to be 67 people.
Trump also took the time to muse on the causes of the incident, highlighting the Biden government’s focus on DEI instead of passenger safety and specifically pointing out the “bullshit” of former Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
In January 2024, it was revealed that “[t]he Federal Aviation Administration is actively recruiting workers who suffer “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.
“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website states. “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.”
President Trump was joined by new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who both extended their condolences and blasted the previous government’s DEI hiring policies.
Hegseth explained there was an “elevation issue” involved with the routine military re-training operation, insisting that many different parts of government are now investigating the incident with a view to getting answers in the near term.
