Not everything seems to be going well for America after Donald Trump’s return, despite some successful changes in the country’s policies. For instance, the recent series of plane crashes, which included a small plane with two people on board that fell in Covington, Georgia, on February 17, happened to be the fifth plane crash after Donald Trump took over the White House on January 20, 2025.
Upon the back-to-back tragic deaths, U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell mocked Trump on X ( formerly Twitter) and said, “No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump. He then added emphasis on his statement, telling Fox News Digital, “Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault. ”
In response, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed Swalwell’s claim, saying he was either “taking orders from Fang Fang” or suffering from “a severe case of the infamous Trump Derangement Syndrome.” While the accuracy of data on aviation accidents and deaths remains controversial, there are various reasons for such frequent crashes.
As per sources, several factors, such as failure in safety protocols, old aircraft, and inexperienced pilots, have resulted in the overworked crew experiencing mid-air fatigue, followed by increased post-pandemic travel that has led to higher air traffic, increasing the likelihood of mid-air collisions or runway incidents. However, weather conditions also play a significant role in the safe landing of aircraft. Many of these big crashes involved rainy and turbulent weather.
No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump. https://t.co/3nyRtR1xeb
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 17, 2025
In addition, Donald Trump has reportedly also fired several members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which examines safety issues at airlines and airports. This harsh step came after the brutal D.C. crash on January 31, 2025, which killed sixty-seven people as a Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet near Ronald Reagan Washington.
Similarly, on February 6, 2025, a Bering Air commuter plane carrying nine passengers and a pilot crashed into sea ice off the western coast of Alaska, which claimed so many innocent lives. Reportedly, there was light snow and fog, with a temperature of 17 degrees (-8.3 Celsius) on the day of the crash.
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Meanwhile, as per the New York Post, Donald Trump constantly suggested that air traffic controllers hired under DEI policies may have played a role, especially after the deadly Potomac River, which was one major crash since 2001 in the history of the country. He also slammed past administrations, particularly former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, for diminishing hiring standards at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Furthermore, Trump also questioned Joe Biden’s policy of hiring people with active disabilities to showcase diversity and empathy. As per sources, he said, we have to have the most intelligent people— “It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, or who they are. They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses.” He assured people in a public conference that under his rule, things for America would get better.
