Please note: I wrote this blog before the sh*t storm with DOGE. To sum up: Musk sent people who work for him or associates, and are not federal employees, to different government departments to access classified and sensitive data at the Treasury department and USAID. This means that people’s social security numbers and accounts used for tax refunds have been compromised and downloaded onto private servers. Please contact your members of congress and tell them a private citizen can not decide to mess with government systems and shut down an agency set up by congress. Saying something is legal doesn’t mean it is.
My heart goes out to the victims of the tragic plane crash in Washington DC. I can only hope the families of the victim get the help and support they need. Trump’s press conference started out as well, a decent speech. He acknowledged the lives lost, and spoke of them respectfully. While it was Christian preachy, it was a decent speech and not inappropriate.
Then he started ranting about DEI. Well, I guess we can’t expect him to be a leader for long. The adage “never let a crisis go to waste” was on display.
First, I should define what DEI actually is. One problem is the right wing is redefining terms, making it harder to even talk about issues. It stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Diversity is making sure there are diverse employees within the workforce, equity is making sure everyone is treated well and has the same opportunities, and inclusion is making sure everyone feels welcome working there. As America becomes more diverse, DEI is important not just from an ethical side but from a profit side. Companies that are more diverse are more profitable.
Trump focused on attacking disabled people. Because that is the group he could attack. If he had said air traffic control was a job too tough for women, non-whites, or parents and caregivers (yes, inclusion means making family friendly policies) then there would be a backlash even from the right wing.
I have no doubt someone in a wheelchair or with dwarfism could be an air traffic controller. It might require changing the height of the desk, and for wheelchair users being conscious to keep hallways clear, but that isn’t rocket science. I also am certain someone who is neuro divergent or has a mental illness that is being treated and properly monitored could do the job, with maybe some accommodations. Disabilities is actually a pretty big group that includes pregnancy (which is a temporary disability). He was using the method I have seen used before to stir outrage by the right wing—take a broad term, define it using the most extreme example, say that whenever that term is used it only means the extreme example so people forget how it is actually used, and keep the lies loud and frequent. The FAA is a large organization, and air traffic controller is just one job they do, so just because the FAA was welcoming people with intellectual disabilities doesn’t mean they were being hired for air traffic controllers.
Also, Trump talked about how air traffic controllers need to be geniuses—saying that he didn’t believe someone who is disabled could be a genius. Has Trump ever heard of Stephen Hawking? Brilliant people can have physical disabilities, and there are medications and assisted devices that help people do all kinds of jobs as long as they receive appropriate accommodations. Of course, the same people ranting about how people on public assistance are mooching off the public dollar are against companies making the adjustments needed for people who are disabled to be able to work and make a living without government support.
Another problem was the media landscape when I tried to fact check. I searched air traffic control + DEI and what came up was a New York Times article debunking it—that was behind a paywall, and a bunch of right wing editorials claiming white people weren’t hired for air traffic jobs. Good reporting takes an investment of time and money, and those outlets do need to make money. But the free content drowns out the careful reporting.
The crash should undergo a thorough investigation, and if there are systemic issues that caused it to happen those should be addressed. The problem is you can’t start an investigation trying to shoe horn a particular conclusion—that is how people get wrongly convicted for horrible crimes and go to jail for decades. If the investigation is biased, they might not actually find the systemic issue that caused the crash, which would make these more likely to happen in the future. Especially with all the chaos at the government right now, there needs to be an honest assessment of resources needed to make sure air traffic can do their job safely.