TRUMP rails against DEI after D.C. AVIATION DISASTER!

In his first news conference since the aircraft collision over the Potomac River, President Donald Trump on Thursday implied that diversity, equity and inclusion programs could be the cause, although an investigation has only just begun into the fatal disaster.

“We have to have our smartest people” as air traffic controllers, Trump said Thursday morning. “It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. ... They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses. Can’t have regular people doing their job. We can’t have regular people doing this job. They won’t be able to do it, but we’ll restore faith in American air travel.”

Trump spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Federal Aviation Administration's DEI initiatives, particularly under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. He cited the FAA's acknowledgment of the underemployment of employees with disabilities.

A week before he took office, Trump said the FAA website said "people with severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, that they want them" to be "air traffic controllers. I don’t think so."

Trump also railed against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who served under Biden, calling him a “disaster.” But under questioning from reporters, Trump stopped short of outright blaming the programs for the midair collision on Wednesday night.

"It just could have been," Trump said when asked whether he believed the crash was the result of diversity hiring.

Trump went on to attack the Obama and the Biden administrations, saying they lowered requirements for air traffic controllers in service of DEI. “Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse,” he said.

“A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” he added. “This was in the Obama administration.”