PARIS, FRANCE - DECEMBER 7: President-Elect Donald Trump reacts during his meeting with Prince William, Prince of Wales at the Embassy of the United Kingdom's Residence on December 7, 2024 in Paris, France. Donald Trump was among the wave of foreign dignitaries descending on Paris this weekend to attend a reopening ceremony at Notre-Dame Cathedral, more than five years after it was damaged in a major fire. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
(Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

‘This man has no low’: Trump condemned for senselessly firing head of TSA

At around 9pm on Jan. 29, an American Airlines jet carrying over 60 passengers collided with an Army helicopter while flying over the Potomac River, causing the plane to plummet into the frigid waters below. Officials have pulled dozens of bodies out of the river, civilian and soldier alike – so far there are no survivors.

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The tragedy occurred mere days after Donald Trump enacted sweeping changes to American’s aviation system in an effort to roll back DEI initiatives across the federal government. In service of his anti-DEI executive order, Trump fired the heads of the TSA and Coast Guard and gutted an aviation safety advisory committee.

Users on Twitter were disgusted by the decision, writing: “This man has no low.”

The firings were ordered as part of Trump’s efforts to reshape the Department of Homeland Security. TSA Administrator David Pekoske, who was appointed by Trump himself during his first term, was halfway through his second five year term after being reappointed by former president Joe Biden. Pekoske called his service the “honor of a lifetime” in his departure letter to TSA staff.

Trump also fired Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan – the military’s first female service chief -who held the position since 2022. Washington state Senator Maria Cantwell called Fagan’s termination “appalling.” Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut slammed the firing – which occurred in the middle Fagan’s term – as an “abuse of power.”

Members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee received a memo from the president’s office saying that their membership was eliminated in service of the Trump administration’s effort to prevent “the misuse of resources.” Trump and his allies painstakingly defined one such “misuse” of government money and time: DEI. During the first week of his presidency, Trump issued a memo titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” in an effort to combat the DEI initiatives that he has spent his political career personally attacking.

After the crash, Trump redoubled his attacks on DEI, blaming the recent air collision in D.C. on diversity and inclusion efforts that he claimed allowed unqualified people to become air traffic controllers. His stance on the attack has been echoed by fellow Republicans, one of whom – Congressman Andy Ogles – suggested that DEI was to blame for the crash.

Private citizens attempted to warn the public that Trump’s decisions surrounding aviation could have potentially deadly consequences. In a post on X, UMBC Political Science Professor Thomas Schaller wrote that Trump’s executive order halting the hiring of federal employees would lead to plane crashes.

“An FAA employee I know confirms agency already lacks sufficient air traffic controllers,” Schaller wrote. “The so-called ‘buyouts’ and other attacks on federal employees won’t help. Remember that fact when the flight delays (crashes? ) commence and Trumpers start falsely blaming DEI or Biden.”

MAGA was quick to erroneously suggest that a conspiracy was afoot, implying that Schaller was a member of the “deep state” who wrote his tweet knowing that the crash would occur, and that it was part of a covert government plan to erode support for the Trump administration. Considering that MAGA politicians themselves famously court conspiracy theories, it isn’t surprising. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama once called the January 6th attack on the Capitol Building a “setup,” and that “23 FBI agents” incited the riot in a post on X.

While Trump and his conservative allies continue to create and destroy political strawmen in order to explain the cause of the nation’s problems, the day may soon come when the weight of their poor policy decisions causes their administration to crumble.


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Sarah Fimm
Sarah Fimm (they/them) is actually nine choirs of biblically accurate angels crammed into one pair of $10 overalls. They have been writing articles for nerds on the internet for less than a year now. They really like anime. Like... REALLY like it. Like you know those annoying little kids that will only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers? They're like that... but with anime. It's starting to get sad.