An American Airlines plane crashed with a military helicopter as the airplane was on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport. All sixty-four lives on the airplane have been lost along with three from the helicopter. Before Wednesday there had not been a Commercial aircraft crash in the US for 13 years. On the plane were a group of teenage figure skaters returning from a meet and developmental camp with their families and, a group of steamfitter union members. The nation morns but not the entire nation. Some are treating this as another way to promote a racist agenda.

At 10:51 pm the night of the crash the White House released a very appropriate press release that read “I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident that took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.” This is a very well-written and very presidential response. At 12:19 am Trump posted a less-than-presidential posting on Truth Social: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport.  The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, and the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down or turn? Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane? This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!” I have seen worse things that Trump has posted but he is right now in charge of all of the agencies that are involved and he hasn’t let the experts do their jobs yet. Even a mediocre leader lets the people in charge do their jobs and then takes their findings and makes the necessary changes.

The next day Trump had a press briefing and again he started out very presidential. While reading a well-written prepared statement he sounded just like you would expect the president to sound. Trump, for some reason, feels he needs to go on the attack when people are hurting which only makes people hurt worse. Trump went on a rant blaming the crash on the likes of Biden, Obama, and former Transportation Secretary Buttigieg. He also blamed DEI and people with disabilities. Trump went on to state “I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen. They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white’. And we want the people that are competent.” People are dead, and Trump has no idea yet what the cause was but he has to start playing the blame game and also begin attacking people of color and other minorities. The policies of the Transportation Department have not changed since 2013. It is published on their website. They are the same rules in place the first time Trump was president. Trump didn’t change a thing; I looked up Trump's top ten campaign promises from 2016 and DEI and Wokeness were not there. Trump jumped on the DEI bandwagon after DeSantis tried to use DEI to propel his political ambitions. DeSantis showed the Republican party that hate sells and Trump just copied that.

I wonder how many people have actually looked up to see what it takes to become an Air Traffic Controller? First, you have to be a US citizen who is registered with the U.S. military for the draft. They have to be younger than 31 years of age and have completed three years of general work experience or four years of college education. They have to speak English clearly and be willing to relocate to help alleviate staffing shortages. This is all on the FAA’s website. This is just to be able to apply for the job. Next, they have to take the Air Traffic Selection and Training exam. They are also required to pass the FAA pre-employment test to be eligible to apply for air traffic controller jobs. Once they have a job offer, they are eligible to enroll in the training course at FAA Academy. After qualifying for the training program, it is necessary to complete it at the FAA Academy which is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The program usually lasts from two to five months, depending on your background and the position that you have been hired for.  After satisfactory completing the FAA Academy, a trainee is assigned to an air traffic control facility as a developmental controller. As they gain more experience, they advance to different roles with greater responsibility. Air traffic controllers must be certified by the FAA. They must pass knowledge exams, and practical exams, and meet the experience requirements through on-the-job training. It usually takes two to four years to complete the training which leads to full certification.  Trump makes it sound like past administrations were just dragging people off the street to make a quota which is not the truth. The last three administrations have been working under the same rules.  

To blame a disaster on anyone without knowing the facts is wrong but to blame a disaster on minorities without knowing the facts is disgusting. That is what Trump is doing by blaming DEI, he is just spreading a disgusting lie. Writing an official memorandum blaming the other administrations and DEI does not make it the truth. In fact, it makes it an official lie. There are many questions that need to be answered and Trump's lies are not helping. I have seen a report that said that there is a severe shortage of Air Traffic Controllers. If that is the problem what plans are being put in place to alleviate that shortage? I have also read that Air Traffic Controllers are working 10 hours a day 6 days a week. If that report is true, I would think that we have to start looking at how we can shorten the hours for workers on this very stressful job. Overworking people never leads to a safe environment. I have read a report that one worker had to double-up on monitors with a screen for helicopters and a screen for airplanes because of a staffing problem. We also need to be asking hard questions about our military that was running a practice drill so close to the airport. The most important thing that we have to do is wait for the Federal Transportation Safety Board to finish its investigation which is just beginning and wait for their conclusions and what their reconditions are.

I wonder if all you people who think Trump is going to make our country safer realize that Air Traffic Controllers like many other Federal Employees got that so-called buy-out letter asking them to resign. If we are already short of Air Traffic Controllers asking more to resign is not going to make our country safer. As I have written it takes up to 4 years to train an Air Traffic Controller. I see us being more and more unsafe the longer that Trump is in office.

What we need right now is the leadership that you will never get from the chaos that has always been Trump. By the way, I will take DEI over Trump's nepotism and unqualified Cabinet Appointments any day of the week.