A version of this story appeared in the What Matters of CNN. To get it in your reception box, register for free here.
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Less than a day after The deadly collision From the American Airlines Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter of the American army killed 67 people on the Potomac river, President Donald Trump said that common sense had already told him what to blame: diversity programs creating a class unskilled federal workers.
At the same time, Trump made these bizarre comments from the White House Information Room, three of his most controversial candidates were faced with serious questions about Capitol Hill on their lack of traditional qualifications to direct the FBI, coordinate the agencies nation spying and administering its audience health system.
This is the incredible irony of Trump 2.0, where the new president claims a broad mandate to deconstruct the federal bureaucracy as it exists today and promising to shoot down the federal labor with large affirmations Insults on the ability of federal workers even if each air traffic the controller passes the same aptitude test.
Meanwhile, it is proven that the universe of more than two million federal employees can, in a very specific way, be too small for a country of 330 million people. The Federal Aviation Administration, before the presidency of Trump, reported a shortage of air controllers – About 11,500 air traffic controllers in May 2024 when the personnel plans drawn up by the FAA and the union representing the controllers requested 14,600.
At the time of the collision, a controller worked two stations, said a source of air traffic control in CNN. National Transportation Safety Board officials at a press conference, still at the start of their investigation, would not comment on the report. Asked about Trump’s allegation concerning diversity programs provoking the crash, the president of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, whom Trump first appointed to the post in 2018, said that the investigators will examine everything – “Human, The machine and the environment ” – to determine what did not happen.
Trump acknowledged that his Browside to Diversity programs came more from his intestine than from all proof. Here is his exchange with David Sanger, a journalist from the New York Times:
Trump made, as part of his Blitz of executive actions, diversity programs end specifically at FAAWhich can explain why he wants to blame them, and former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for the accident. He also read a one -year -old online report on FAA’s efforts to hire disabled people.
He did not seem to understand that the same standards were in place during his first administration and even falsely corrected a journalist who pointed out.
According to a 2023 FAA reportAbout 2% of FAA employees had the targeted handicaps that Trump mentioned in his comments. But air traffic controllers are a special subset of FAA employees which must meet physical requirements, be tested for drug use and take a special ability test.
Despite Trump’s cancellation of diversity programs, the FAA is lagging behind the rest of the federal workforce to represent the composition of the country. The part of women employed at the FAA, around 24%, is much lower than that of the larger civil workforce, 48%. When white men represent approximately 36% of the larger federal workforce, they represent more than 55% of FAA employees.
Trump clearly does not think that all air controllers have not qualified because he later said that Americans should still feel safe in the air. But he promised that its cancellation of diversity programs would improve standards.
Vice-President JD Vance, who appeared alongside Trump in the White House Information Room, noted that there was a trial Taken against the FAA By candidates for the white air traffic controller because they felt discriminated against due to biographical questions added to a screening text.
Trump’s claims concerning diversity are materialized with its expanding efforts to eliminate federal workforce with a legally questionable offer to pay without work until September, although it is only a loose promise.
In remarks on Wednesday Trump accused federal workers who have the flexibility of working remotely not to work. Air traffic controllers are among the more than half, 54%, Federal workers who worked fully on site before the inauguration of Trump.
While Trump attacked the qualifications of air traffic controllers, the senators wondered the qualifications of some of his best administration choices.
Kash Patel, Trump’s choice to direct the FBI, calls on the president in part because Patel wants to shake the FBI. He undertook not to engage in a reprisal campaign if he is confirmed in the position of 10 years, despite several previous statements on a list of enemies and Trump adversaries who should be the subject of An investigation.
Tulsi Gabbard has faced skepticism about his plan, as an old Democratic member of the Congress, to put pressure for forgiveness for Edward Snowden, the former intelligence entrepreneur who has disclosed information on intelligence programs classified before fleeing to Russia. Gabbard, who has never officially worked in intelligence, said that she would not oppose the controversial program of electronic listening NSA Snowden.
“The FBI and the intelligence services in this country, it is the very heart of the so-called deep state that Donald Trump believes against him from the start in 2016 and,” said CNN Washington office David David Chalian, explaining why Trump wants to shake the system.
Republican senators should break with Trump so that the lack of traditional qualifications of these candidates torpedo their appointments. Gabbard faced a more meticulous examination of the Republicans than a Patel. She refused to say if she thinks Snowden is a traitor.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appearing in his second day of audiences to become a secretary of health and social services, faced questions from a republican doctor, Senator Bill Cassidy, about his vaccination skepticism.