Just days before a devastating plane crash near Washington, D.C., Donald Trump made the reckless and perplexing decision to fire the heads of TSA and gut the Aviation Safety Advisory.
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To be clear, there is no evidence so far that Trump’s actions caused the devastating crash. However, the accident is a stark reminder that aviation regulation and safety is a life-and-death matter. These are not agencies to be tampered with. On January 29, an American Airlines airplane collided midair with a Black Hawk helicopter above the Potomac River. The plane had departed from Wichita, KS, with 60 passengers and four crew members onboard, while the helicopter carried three crew members. Officials have confirmed there are likely no survivors. The identities of the passengers and crew have not yet been released as recovery efforts continue. However, it has been confirmed that U.S. and Russian figure skating community members were on the flight.
It is too early to determine or speculate on a cause for the devastating crash. As usual, though, MAGA promptly insisted that DEI was to blame. During a press conference in which President Trump was supposed to speak about the accident and provide answers to grieving families, he launched into a rant insisting, without evidence, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden had lowered standards for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Although he can deflect and blame all he wants, America isn’t going to forget that he is the one who recklessly gutted a vital aviation safety committee and is tampering with aviation matters he doesn’t understand.
Donald Trump interferes with aviation safety
Within days of taking office, Trump immediately fired the heads of TSA and gutted the federal Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which serves as a TSA advisory body. He fired every committee member. The committee has served the TSA since 1989 and was constructed in response to a terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103. It will continue to exist, especially since the committee was made permanent through the Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act of 2014. However, it will not function because no one can carry out its safety duties.
Pilot James Fallows told The Atlantic the committee “was collaborative; it combined public, private, military, civilian, academic, and other institutions to pool knowledge; it avoided blame; but it focused relentlessly on lessons learned.” While its dismissal may not have impacted the Potomac River plane crash, over time, its absence likely will be noticed as the TSA operates without vital safety recommendations and advice. Additionally, the Trump administration could provide no reason for the dismissal of the committee. The Department of Homeland Security issued the customary response that the committee didn’t align with Trump’s agenda. It doesn’t acknowledge that committees like the Aviation Safety Advisory aren’t supposed to be about politics and enforcing the right-wing agenda. They are about keeping America safe.
At the time of the plane crash, the FAA was also without a chief, as Michael Whitaker resigned on January 20. His resignation was foreseeable once Trump won re-election, especially since Trump’s right-hand man Elon Musk had attacked Whitaker and demanded his resignation. Instead of prioritizing a replacement for Whitaker, Trump focused on gutting advisory committees and firing TSA heads as the FAA struggled with dangerous staff shortages.
Trump can cry DEI all he wants, but, as Brett Meiselas urged, “Let’s remember what Donald Trump did just last week.” The last time an incident of the scale of the Potomac River crash occurred was almost 24 years ago. Yet, Trump is interfering in things that were working well. The nation already can’t comprehend this recent devastating accident. Now, Trump is impulsively taking actions that threaten to increase the number of incidents like this in America.
Published: Jan 30, 2025 12:20 pm