It started with a moment’s silence for the victims of Wednesday night’s plane crash.
And Donald Trump’s prepared remarks ended with a call for prayers of comfort for those who lost loved ones.
In the meantime, he criticized the practice of diversity hiring for air traffic controllers, which aimed to include individuals with dwarfism and full paralysis. He blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for lowering the standards and also disparaged former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
He even delivered a trigger warning before holding forth in a packed White House briefing room.
He stated, “We are uncertain about the cause of this accident, but we have some strong opinions and thoughts on the matter, and we will likely express them now.”
It took Biden almost four years to make an appearance in the briefing room.
Trump quickly made his way to the podium in front of the television cameras just 10 days after the incident to provide an update on the tragic event that occurred near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, approximately three miles away.
While Biden’s word count would decline during crises, giving way to officials and cabinet secretaries to take questions at the podium, Trump’s word count goes up, just as it did when the COVID pandemic struck five years ago.
President Donald Trump used the White House briefing room to call for unity in the wake of Wednesday’s plane crash, before railing against diversity hiring practices
Standing room only in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House
The result was intense excitement in the briefing room.
All 49 seats were occupied well before showtime. Correspondents stood two deep in the narrow aisles, throwing occasional elbows to protect the best views.
‘It’s sardine time,’ said one late arrival.
The lights and bodies made the temperature tick up well before Trump arrived, 20 minutes late.
He was trailed by key figures in the disaster: Vice President J.D. Vance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
They took the seats at the side of the room. A shakeup this week had set them aside for members of new media, but that was before 67 people were killed in the nation’s worst aviation disaster in almost 24 years.
‘We are one family, and today we are all heart broken,’ said Trump as he read from his prepared script, voice somber. ‘We’re all searching for answers.’
After the words of consolation and unity came the politics.
An investigation would bring answers, he said. In the meantime, Trump had opinions.
FBI agents on the scene after American Eagle flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and crashed into Potomac River
‘We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state those opinions now,’ said Trump
It took President Joe Biden almost four years to appear at the lectern in the briefing room. Trump arrived there after just 10 days to give an update and take questions
He said he had increased standards for hiring air traffic controllers during his first term, improvements he claimed were undone by Biden.
‘They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses,’ he said. ‘They can’t have regular people doing their job. They won’t be able to do it.’
He listed what he said were guidelines for hiring on the Federal Aviation Administration website.
‘The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism … all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot on the map … a little runway,’ he said.
His administration would hire only the best people was the message, unlike Buttigieg, former transportation secretary.
He’s a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor,’ he said. ‘He ran his city into the ground, and he’s a disaster. Now he’s just got a good line of bulls***.’
Trump campaigned on a message that he would restore common sense to government. And on Thursday he demonstrated what that meant as he explored the causes of the crash.
‘It just seems to me from a couple of words that I like to use … the words “common sense” … some really bad things happened, and some things happened that shouldn’t have happened,’ he said.
‘You had a helicopter that was at the exact same height as somebody going in essentially the opposite direction. You had a plane that was following a track, which is a track that every other plane followed,’ he said.
An FBI agent retrieves debris a day after the crash in Arlington, Virginia
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shared his thoughts during briefing
Trump said Americans should still feel safe about flying despite the crash
And then he suggested that the presence of a preceding plane may have complicated things.
‘So you had a confluence of of bad decisions.’
His supporting cast knew their roles.
When Duffy was invited to the podium to say a few word he opened with: ‘Thank you, Mr. President, and I would just note the president’s leadership has been remarkable.’
Hands shot in the air when the president turned it over to reporters to ask questions. Photographers tutted as stretched arms suddenly blocked their shots.
The first question cut to the nub of his briefing: What evidence do you have that diversity initiatives could have been to blame for the crash?
‘It just could have been,’ he said.
‘You have to go by brain power. You have to go by psychological quality…these are very powerful tests that we put to use and they were terminated by Biden.’
He had spent much of the 30 minutes outlining what he saw as systemic problems with hiring in the aviation sector.
So should Americans feel safe about flying?
‘No not at all. I don’t hesitate to fly…’ said the owner of a private 757 and the passenger-in-chief of Air Force One. ‘The collision is just something we don’t expect to happen again.’
