Within hours of the news that an American Airlines jet had collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter and crashed, killing everyone aboard both aircraft, Donald Trump had already drawn his conclusions as to the cause. He surmised that the cause of the tragedy was hiring practices that promoted diversity, equity, and Inclusion (DEI). He followed that up by blaming Presidents Obama and Biden.
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Never mind that Trump had no evidence whatsoever that his racist conclusions had any merit, or even a remote relationship with reality. He neglected expressions of concern or condolences in order to advance his agenda of noxious bigotry, and to exploit the tragedy to attack his political foes. And of course, that narrative was faithfully supported by his obedient politburo chief, Karoline Leavitt, who has been busy clearing press credentials for devoted MAGA cultists.
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On Friday morning, the White House press briefing took a bizarre turn when Peter Doocy of Fox News rose to ask Leavitt a question about the safety of air travel in America. He made an uncharacteristically insightful point about the consequences of Trump’s drumbeating of disparagement toward employees in the aviation sector that he regards as being too dark skinned, feminine, or otherwise representative of the diversity of the nation.
Doocy: If president Trump is telling us that air traffic control towers are staffed with unqualified controllers, DEI hires who never should have been brought on, then it’s not safe to fly commercially, is it?
Leavitt: The president was asked and answered this yesterday, and he believes that it is still indeed safe and Americans should feel safe traveling our skies. With that said, two things can be true at the same time. And we certainly have seen the deterioration of federal hiring standards at the Federal Aviation Administration. And the president wants to increase those standards.
PETER DOOCY: Given DEI hires, it's not safe to fly commercially, is it?LEAVITT: The president believes it is still indeed safe. With that said …
Doocy’s question staggered Leavitt. It makes sense to reason that aviation safety is at risk if the people responsible for it are incompetent and/or unqualified, as Trump insists. And anyone who accepts Trump’s assessment should keep their feet firmly planted on the ground, rather than put their lives in the hands of freeloaders who shouldn’t have been hired. Right?
Well, according to Leavitt, the answer is more complex. She argues that “two things can be true at the same time.” In her view, the pilots, air traffic controllers, and other aviation staff can be inferior clods who, nevertheless, are still perfectly able to insure the safety of American travelers. Except for the times that they cause jetliners to crash into the Potomac. Leavitt elaborated on her duplicity theory saying that…
“When you’re flying with your loved ones, do you pray that your airplane lands safely and gets you to your destination or do you pray that the pilot has a certain skin color? I think we all know the answer.”
The choices Leavitt offers here are absurd in the extreme. Obviously every air passenger wants to land safely. But nobody “prays” that “the pilot has a certain skin color.” Well, except for racist Trump cultists and MAGA disciples who will only approve of white pilots. For instance, Trump flunky Charlie Kirk actually said “I’m sorry. If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.'”
Trump’s obsession with casting blame on Blacks, women, Democrats, and others for whom he has a visceral, inbred hatred, is emblematic of his rancid divisiveness. And in the furtherance of his prejudices, he couldn’t care less about whether or not what he’s saying about DEI true. And as PolitiFact affirms, it isn’t. But that won’t stop him. He won’t stop lying because he’s pathologically incapable of it. What’s more, he knows that his cult followers not only accept it, they love it.
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