According to the latest available information, American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members when it collided midair with an Army helicopter, which was carrying three people, near Reagan Washington National Airport. The White House has since confirmed that there were no survivors. A recovery effort is ongoing in the Potomac River.
Basic human decency would suggest the immediate aftermath is a poor time for partisan politics and cheap shots. Indeed, all a president has to do in a situation like this is extend his sympathies, marshal available resources, and keep the public informed.
President Donald Trump, true to form, chose a different direction.
The first sign of trouble emerged shortly after midnight when the Republican published an odd statement to his social media platform, offering baseless speculation about what happened. “This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented,” Trump added. “NOT GOOD!!!”
As the morning progressed, the White House announced that the president would offer additional public remarks on the tragedy, which offered Trump an opportunity to do what he failed to do overnight. Instead, he made matters vastly worse. As NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump targeted former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in his remarks on the deadly D.C. plane crash, saying Biden’s “policy was horrible.”
To be sure, expectations were low ahead of the Republican’s public remarks on the disaster. Trump hasn’t exactly earned a reputation for excellence when it comes to post-tragedy responses.
But the incumbent president failed to clear a low bar.
“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system. I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary,” Trump said, without providing evidence or citing specific policy.
“And then when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen because this was the lowest level,” he continued, adding, “their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”
Trump took an especially aggressive line toward Buttigieg, calling him “a disaster” who’s “got a good line of bulls—.”
Despite the inconvenient fact that the investigation is just getting started, and officials don’t yet know the cause of the crash, the president also felt comfortable sharing his assumptions about “a pilot problem” that Trump also chose to blame.
In case that weren’t quite enough, Trump also decided to point fingers at an “FAA diversity push” that “includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities that is amazing.”
Asked if the crash was caused by diversity hiring, the president said, “It just could have been.”
A reporter pressed Trump to explain how, exactly, he came to the conclusion that diversity had something to do with the crash. He replied, “Because I have common sense, OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”
REPORTER: I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.TRUMP: Because I have common sense, ok? And unfortunately a lot of people don't
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-30T16:54:34.650Z
The president went on to claim that he would’ve overhauled the entire system had it not been for the 2020 election.
Around the same time, asked whether he’s “getting ahead of the investigation,” Trump went on to say, “No, I don’t think so,” adding that he didn’t consider that a “smart question.”
COLLINS: We don't even yet know the names of the people killed and you're blaming Dems and DEI policies. Don't you think you're getting ahead of the investigation?TRUMP: No, I don't think soC: Does it comfort their families to hearing you blaming DEI?R: That's not a very smart question
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-01-30T16:48:58.624Z
So to recap, as recovery efforts continue, Trump responded to a deadly crash by blaming Democrats, DEI, the FAA, a former cabinet secretary, and unnamed pilots.
“Listen, it’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracies, it’s another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the press conference. “It just turns your stomach.”
It was an easy sentiment to agree with, but the larger context makes matters even worse. The New York Times’ David French recently noted that Trump “is at his absolute worst in a crisis.” The columnist, whose observation was unrelated to the crash, added in reference to the president, “He is not a man who is ready to meet important and dangerous moments.”
The Republican keeps proving the point. When there was a deadly hurricane in North Carolina, he flunked a leadership test. When there was a deadly attack in New Orleans, he flunked again. When responding to deadly fires in California, he flunked again. In the wake of Flight 5342, he’s flunking again.
In 2025, Americans simply can’t count on their president for reliable and trustworthy information in the wake of a tragedy.
