President Donald Trump has been enjoying the blame sport with the lethal midair collision between an American Airways jet and a U.S. Military Black Hawk – pointing the finger at former Presidents Obama and Biden in addition to DEI hiring practices. It’s nearly a certainty that this crash had nothing to do with these folks and issues, however that didn’t cease Trump from saying the 2 Democrats imposed “a giant push to place variety” that he claims weakened the Federal Aviation Administration.
Right here’s the difficulty with Trump’s fingering of Biden and Obama: the FAA started these variety packages throughout his first time period in workplace, in accordance with the Washington Submit. Whereas studying via a Fox Information article on dwell tv, Trump listed situations that he implied would disqualify folks from being air visitors controllers: “listening to, imaginative and prescient, lacking extremities, partial paralysis, full paralysis, epilepsy, extreme mental incapacity, psychiatric incapacity, and dwarfism.” Trump clearly didn’t notice that the very factor he was rallying towards is one thing he as soon as – tangentially, at the least – supported.
Right here’s what he went on to say, in accordance with the Submit:
“Are you able to think about?” he requested. “Sensible folks need to be in these positions, and their lives are literally shortened, very considerably shortened due to the stress.” He recommended that it was unsuitable for anybody with these situations to qualify “for the place of a controller of airplanes pouring into our nation, pouring into a little bit spot, a little bit dot on the map, a little bit runway.”
Trump utilized a kind of Michael Scott “Snip-Snap-Snip-Snap” idea to DEI hiring practices for air visitors controllers. In the course of the press convention, he mentioned, “I modified the Obama normal from very mediocre at finest, to extraordinary. … Then they modified it again – that was Biden.” I suppose he simply hasn’t had the possibility to modify it again once more.
Right here’s extra from the Washington Submit:
Trump’s declare was repeated in an government order Trump signed Thursday that ordered a overview of aviation security: “Throughout my first time period, my Administration raised requirements to attain the very best requirements of security and excellence.”
That’s false. In his first time period, Trump left the requirements unchanged.
For air visitors controllers, the Obama administration in 2013 instituted a brand new hiring system that launched a biographical questionnaire to draw minorities, underrepresented within the controller corps. This system was criticized, comparable to in a Fox Information report in 2015, as making it tougher for extra expert candidates to get employed as controllers.
However Trump, in his first time period, left the coverage in place, resulting in a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 by Mountain States Authorized Basis. The case was because of go to trial this 12 months.
Furthermore, the FAA underneath Trump in 2019 launched a program to rent controllers utilizing the very standards he decried at his information convention.
“FAA Offers Aviation Careers to Individuals with Disabilities,” the company introduced on April 11, 2019. The pilot program, the announcement mentioned, would “determine particular alternatives for folks with focused disabilities, empower them and facilitate their entry right into a extra various and inclusive workforce.”
The hyperlink underneath “focused disabilities” is now useless, however the Wayback Machine retains hyperlinks from June 2017 and January 2021 that present the web page was unchanged throughout Trump’s tenure. The checklist included:
– Listening to (complete deafness in each ears)
– Imaginative and prescient (Blind)
– Lacking Extremities
– Partial Paralysis
– Full Paralysis, Epilepsy
– Extreme mental incapacity
– Psychiatric incapacity
– Dwarfism
The June 2019 webpage for the Aviation Growth Program (ADP) — additionally now eliminated however nonetheless seen on the Wayback Machine — mentioned this system “offers a chance for Individuals with Focused Disabilities (PWTD) to realize aviation information and expertise as an air visitors management scholar trainee.” Individuals would rise up to 1 12 months of expertise in an Air Route Visitors Management Middle (ARTCC), with a risk of getting a brief appointment on the FAA Academy.
Again in 2021, underneath the Biden Administration, the FAA introduced that one of many first three ADP candidates graduated from the FAA Academy and have become an official air visitors management trainee. That announcement mentioned this system was conceived when an air visitors supervisor met a quadriplegic scholar who had assumed he would by no means qualify to be a controller because of his situation, the Submit reviews. The administration has confused that members should nonetheless meet the identical {qualifications} as some other air visitors controller scholar.
The double-think of Trump and the remainder of the Republican occasion is so fascinating on this state of affairs. On one hand, it’s an objectively good factor that these practices had been put in place whereas he was the president the primary time. On the opposite, it’s very disheartening to see him so fast in charge these very practices on that terrible crash.
