After the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Ronald Reagan ended an Oval Office address with the consoling thought that its crew had slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. Successors such as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden also shone in the crucial US presidential role of consoler-in-chief.
How would Donald Trump fare in his first test since returning to the White House? On Thursday he came to the press briefing room just 14 hours after the collision of a passenger plane and army helicopter near a Washington airport apparently left all 67 people dead.
The early signs were promising. Wearing dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, Trump strode to the lectern and requested a moment of silence for the victims and their families. The crammed, often rambunctious briefing room was stilled and hushed. You could have heard a pin drop.
In grave, mellow tones, Trump did the things that heads of state are supposed to do, acknowledging an “hour of anguish” for the nation, paying tribute to emergency rescue workers and offering solace that the victims’s journey ended in “the warm embrace of a loving God”.
“We are one family and today we are all heartbroken,” he said. “We are all searching for answers.”
Did he leave it there, channeling the sombre mood, fading with dignity into the background and handing over to experts who know what they are talking about? Are you kidding? This is Trump. He went on, ominously revealing that he had “strong opinions” on the collision (never mind the facts).
With aggression creeping into his voice, Trump pivoted to an all-out attack on his Democratic predecessors and blame the accident on policies of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The norm-busting desire to politicise tragedy was breathtaking in its audacity.
Trump claimed Obama had pushed “mediocre” standards for air traffic controllers, a job that requires “superior intelligence”, but Trump had raised them during his first term. “When I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before.”
Last week Trump signed an executive order restoring his standards. He explained: “We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent – the word talent, you have to be talented, naturally talented genius. You can’t have regular people doing that job.”
It’s almost as if you need a master race.
Trump claimed that the FAA under Obama “came out with a directive – too white” and described former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg as “a disaster” with “a good line of bullshit”, adding: “He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity.”
It was the classic argument from an administration that regards America as a pure meritocracy where systemic racism is a myth and the poor can pull themselves by their bootstraps. It must have just been a coincidence that on Thursday the message was delivered by four white heterosexual men.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy lavished praise on the president’s “remarkable” leadership and said: “We can only accept the best and the brightest in positions of safety that impact the lives of our loved ones, our family members, and I think you make a really important point on that, Mr President. That is the motto of your presidency. The best and the brightest. The most intelligent coming into these spaces.”
Next up was Pete Hegseth, recently confirmed as defence secretary despite allegations of excessive drinking and abuse of his second wife. Hegseth vowed: “The era of DEI is gone at the defence department and we need the best and brightest.”
Duffy and Hegseth were like King Lear’s two eldest daughters trying to outdo each other in their flagrant genuflection. Then came the paragon of obsequiousness, Vice-President JD Vance, thanking Trump for his leadership and bringing a “hire-the-best-people” approach.
One reporter asked Trump if he was saying diversity hiring caused the crash and what evidence he has for that. “It just could have been,” teased the president, who has spent the first 10 days of his presidency hammering DEI in government and beyond.
Another reporter challenged that we do not yet even know the names of the 67 people killed and Trump is already blaming Democrats and DEI policies. Is he not getting ahead of the investigation? What comfort will this bring the families?
Trump rambled then snapped it was “not a very smart question”. He was pressed again on why he was able to so conclusively say DEI policies were responsible. “Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level.”
And of course Trump is the chess grandmaster. It was in this same room that Trump once floated the idea of bleach as a cure for Covid-19. Just weeks ago, after a terrorist attack in New Orleans, he was quick to blame illegal immigration even though the attacker was an American citizen born in Texas.
After Thursday’s debacle, Buttigieg responded on the X social media platform: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying … One of [Trump’s] first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe.”
Trump, Duffy, Hegseth and Vance. The best and the brightest that America has to offer?
