Appallingly slanted reporting from the Guardian -- DC plane crash

[GeneralPeter]

This article describes Trump's theory that DEI had something to do with the crash using debunking words throughout. 'Baselessly', 'without providing evidence' etc etc.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/30/trump-washington-dc-plane-crash-dei

The thing is, this isn't 'baseless'.

The FAA has said that the tower was understaffed. We don't know if that was relevant or has not. We do know that FAA recruitment cratered because of a (very well-evidenced) extremely crude attempt at DEI. There is a long-running class action lawsuit that is on public record and not made up. The test really did award points for saying you had more Ds than Cs at school, for saying science was your weakest subject, etc etc and they did then give the answers to candidates of a particular race before the test.

Sometimes things that sound like loonish right-wing conspiracy theories actually turn out to be true. If you think I must be a right-wing loon, please read this thread first (and many others out there -- this is all public record in court documents and not denied by the FAA).

x.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1752091831095939471

You would not know any of this if you read the Guardian article. Their reporter must surely know this stuff. So it's another attempt to bury with slurs an ideologically inconvenient actual truth. We've seen this before with sex-based rights, and the Guardian should stop it.

(Obligatory: I'm not a Trump fan, think he is appalling in many respects, several of them disqualifying for the presidency. But while comment is free, facts should be sacred).

If it was a factor then I think the relevant investigations etc should take place and if anyone is responsible directly then them to be held to account; i don't think it's good the President addresses the nation and the world making 'common sense' statements and presenting them as fact, especially when families were still waiting to have confirmation of the fate of their loved ones. People can both agree it may have been a contributor and should be investigated and that he was an idiot for saying this when he did.

@RingoJuice I'm not confident that as (presumably) a layperson you can interpret the audio correctly. I've seen others say that the ATCO gave perfectly correct instructions but sounded very pressured.

It won"t be that simple and TBH it is very wrong at this stage trying to apportion blame. which is certainly what Trump appears to be trying to do.

The helicopter crew had a responsibility to make sure they understood the clearance, and regardless of that look out, and it is starting to appear as if pretty much everybody, including the controller, may have been victims of a case absolutely inadequate airspace design/segregation and inadequate procedures..

It will take time to find out, there will bemlots of factors but we will find out eventually unless POTUS keeps interfering.

There is absolutely no merit in politicising a tragedy.

This government is as embarrassing trying to weave in blame in EVERY single statement as the U.K. government is taking about the 22bn hole as an excuse for everything.

The most ironic thing was the press secretary saying that they were getting rid of all DEI and “wokeness”. If it hadn’t been for the MANY decades of work in DEI that has gone before, she would not in a million years be standing there as a 27 year old woman with that job.

There are a lot of people making a lot of money while we are arguing about these things.

US airspace management relies on visual separation more than such densely crowded and challenging airspace should. That may well be the ultimate underlying cause. The human eye can only do so much.

And when the actual cause of this disaster is shown to be, say, mechanical failure, at which point Trump will be claiming "lies" and "coverup", because he has been shown to be worng, will you be agreeing with him, OP?

Why would using DEI cause a staffing shortage? If anything wouldn’t it be the opposite?

With the caveat that we don't yet know if "shortages" were a factor in the crash, it's not always purely about numbers so much as having the best people

And if the best people felt that standards were being diluted it's entirely possible that some may have left to escape what they considered an unacceptable situation

It won’t ofc and as is usual in these cases there will be multiple factors. However I have seen this pointed out specifically so have repeated it here.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest mechanical failure. It would be worth reading more about what happened before picking causes out of thin air just to have a go at the OP.

There's absolutely nothing to suggest that ATC staffing played a part either.

As I said “it’s very poor form to be stating reasons before the investigation is complete, let alone before it’s started”.

The media would be right to call him out for this, but they are not simply doing that: they are claiming it’s baseless and has no evidence, which in itself is baseless and has no evidence.

There is evidence, as stated in the OP, of the FAA having dodgy DEI hiring practices to favour academically incapable people.

So while he is wrong and reckless to speculate so soon, there is potential evidence and basis for what Trump is saying. Claiming it’s completely baseless is therefore premature of the media, and rather manipulative.

@RingoJuice So in essence you're spreading gossip about the ATCO being to blame? I think that's quite problematic, really. He or she may not be to blame at all.

@HowardTJMoon The FAA's first report on the crash has cited staffing as an issue, actually.

The Guardian article spells out why they refer to Trump's claims as 'baseless': despite no evidence of a link with the crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National airport, which involved an American Airlines jet and a US military helicopter.

There isn't a link yet. It's not bias to point this out.

You can't be annoyed at the media for refusing to assume it was an air traffic control failure. If the evidence is there from the investigation then fine, look into all possibilities of what caused the failure/mistake. But at this moment in time it is 'baseless'.

@verysmellyjelly You really do talk out of both sides of your mouth. No-one has said mechanical failure, like no-one has said DEI. Except the President of the USA has already decided he knows exactly what happened, and you're defending that.

@HowardTJMoon

"Bridget Philipson baselessly criticized staffing cutbacks, saying without providing evidence that austerity had resulted in lower funding for schools. She conceded she had no basis for saying that staffing trips safely was important: "It's common sense that if you need two staff to do a trip safely then having one is running needless risk".

I wouldn't read that paper either. Especially if I knew that austerity had resulted in lower funding for schools, and believed the reporter must have known that too.

It's not baseless to assume some link to ATC staffing. That's what should have been explored further. The DEI bit is the politicised aspect that can't be proven at all at this point.

I was literally responding to a post by someone saying mechanical failure. Did you not read their post?

Certainly agree we should wait for the results of an official investigation. As should Trump. Apparently that airport had 24 positions out of 28 filled with staff working 10 hour shifts and six days a week to cover. Does not sound safe. Also read on the night in question it was short staffed with one person doing the role of two. Not sure if that’s true but if so it’s not safe.

if staffing shortage for whatever reason are found to be an issue then they need to look at new rules saying if a shift doesn’t have minimum staff on then the airport closes. Working on a labour ward we close if it’s not safe due to staffing. I think nurseries can’t legally operate without a certain staff level.

Air accident investigation takes time , the deceased are still in the water FGS.

Find something else to fulminate about

Also I have made it very plain, in comment after comment, that I despise Trump and am not defending him. No matter how many times you claim I am.

There is also a time for the President to visit the site, even if he has to get his feet wet, obviously there are no survivors but the emergency personnel deserve his respect and thanks. He would rather hide away in DC making rash statements instead of waiting for those who know what they're talking about to finish their investigations.

It was baseless at the time of the press conference. It's a written report from a specific point in time.

It doesn't matter if the speculation proves to be true today or in the future. It was baseless at the time.

(Edit for typo)

It wasn’t my conclusion. It is one factor being discussed

It is why a lot of people interviewed keep suggesting the helicopter pilot misunderstood which plane the ATC was referring to.

Maybe have a read about who the victims are before you start spouting nonsense

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyjpwxx22ko