Donald Trump‘s insensitive comments about the D.C. plane crash have caused public outrage. It started with the President joking about going swimming at the accident site and now his recent insensitive DEI comment. The fiancée of the pilot of the passenger plane involved in the plane crash addressed the remark made by Trump.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport became the site of a national tragedy on January 29, 2025. A mid-air collision caused 67 people to lose their lives. The collision occurred between a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter.
Both the plane and helicopter went crashing into the freezing waters of the Potomac River. The tragic accident was followed up by an intense search and rescue operation. A recent report revealed that 67 bodies were recovered from the site and one remains unidentified.
Donald Trump was previously asked by a reporter if he planned on visiting the plane crash site. The Republican quipped questioning if he was supposed to swim in the Potomac River. This comment left people questioning the insensitivity that the leader showed while the nation was still recovering from the tragic accident.
Public outrage struck again when the President spoke about the crash in response to a question about DEI policies. In a conference followed up by the accident Trump was asked if he thought the crash was a “result of diversity hiring.” The leader simply replied to the query with, “It just could have been.”
He went on to speak about how the American aviation industry has a “higher standard than anybody else.” Trump went on to explain how psychological quality and psychological quality are factors crucial in testing pilots who get hired. The President did not miss the opportunity to take a shot at his opposition.
Donald Trump implies that diversity hiring is to blame for the plane crash in DC:
“The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities… that is amazing.”
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 30, 2025
He blamed Joe Biden for “terminating” the rigorous tests and claiming that the former President seeks the “exact opposite.” Trump also noted that the accident “shouldn’t have happened.”
The reporter who had asked the question asked Trump again how he could co-relate the crash to diversity. “Because I have common sense. OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people doing this,” the President reasoned.
Nicole Suissa who was engaged to Captain Jonathan Campos fired back at Trump for his remark. “This man’s body hadn’t even been pulled out of the river yet, and we’re talking about him being unqualified because his name is Campos,” Nicole noted.
The pilots of Flight 5342 have been identified as Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Sam Lilley, 28 pic.twitter.com/qmO5lJ5Xhp
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) January 30, 2025
Suissa acknowledged that she feared that a lot of people would make assumptions about the accident after they learned Campos’ name. She also recalled being “irked” after reports with Jonathan’s name and “very Puerto Rican-looking face” were published by outlets.
In her interview with ABC News, Nicole shared how she kept thinking, “All these DEI fear-mongering people going, ‘You see, I knew he’d be Hispanic,’ and I lost my mind.” She also noted that the “politicization” of Campos’ death “entirely inappropriate.”
“It is abhorrent. It is disgraceful. It is insensitive to say the least,” she concluded. Jonathan Campos was the pilot of the American Airlines Plane that was carrying 60 people before the crash took place.
