Few things can unite a nation like a tragedy. From the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the Challenger disaster in 1986, the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and others, America has been known to put aside our differences and mourn and heal together as a nation. Sadly, that didn't happen after Wednesday’s midair collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a civilian airliner over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., at Reagan International Airport.
Rather than focusing on the tragic event and potential victims, the left immediately focused on assigning blame and pointed fingers at President Trump.
“Look, it’s January 29. We are just nine days out from a presidential transition, an administrative transition. The FAA administrator resigned at the end of the Biden administration. So there is no permanent confirmed FAA administrator right now,” CNN’s Abby Phillip said soon after the crash. “This is going to be a time when there’s going to be a lot of public communication and a lot of investigation of what happened here."
Her guest, former Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo, promptly debunked the insinuation when she told Phillip that “the politics of the situation should have had no impact whatsoever on the air traffic controllers and the good, you know, good positive air traffic control."
Then we had CNN commentator Bakari Sellers, a paragon of tone-deafness, sharing a cringe-worthy screenshot on X with a line about a federal hiring freeze that had taken place merely eight days prior. Always eager to further the narrative, this kind of rhetoric leaves one wondering: when will Democrats stop trying to capitalize on human tragedy for political gain?
While the media eagerly twisted logic to pin the blame on Trump, he understandably pushed back by pointing to policies under Barack Obama and Joe Biden that may have contributed to the incident during a press conference on Thursday. Specifically, Trump highlighted diversity mandates that may have led to underqualified hires within the FAA, weakening the agency’s ability to ensure aviation safety.
Related: Here's What We Know so Far About the D.C. Plane Crash
Trump was not wrong. Biden-era DEI initiatives at the FAA resulted in the agency prioritizing recruiting “workers who suffer ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions,” according to a report from the New York Post. It may have been fair to criticize the lax standards for air traffic control and point out that these policies were symptomatic of broader issues plaguing American aviation.
Did those cause the tragedy? It’s certainly possible, but we don't know for sure yet, and I didn’t think it was the time or place for Trump to bring it up. I'm not saying we shouldn't be asking these questions, but let's be honest; we still don’t fully understand what caused this tragic incident. Both sides should pump the brakes on the blame game to focus on what truly matters: finding answers.
The media’s rush to blame Trump, along with Trump pointing to the policies of Obama and Biden, only distracts from the investigation and the tragic loss of life that occurred. As Americans, we deserve a responsible dialogue centered on accountability and transparency, not politics. It’s time to put partisanship aside and ensure such tragedies don’t happen again. Only then can we address the real questions — not just who is to blame, but how to safeguard our skies and protect innocent lives.
