OtherWords
In this chaotic news cycle, America’s worst plane crash in a generation already feels a generation old.
But the administration’s response to the tragic January collision that killed 67 people over the Potomac is worth revisiting. Not only because the loved ones of those lost deserve answers, but because it highlights a MAGA playbook we’ve seen repeatedly now — and we’ll see again very soon.
We don’t yet know what caused the crash. But shortly before it, President Trump disbanded a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety committee, fired the FAA administrator, and implemented a federal hiring freeze despite a shortage of air traffic controllers. (Staffing at the local tower was “not normal” the night of the collision, The New York Times reported.)
Speculation has even emerged that Elon Musk, the unelected billionaire bureaucrat who’s been illegally gutting the federal government, urged the FAA administrator’s firing in retaliation for past fines against his SpaceX company.
Did any of that contribute? That’s for a proper investigation to determine. But one thing’s for sure: It wasn’t the “DEI” initiatives President Trump immediately blamed.
Trump suggested that unqualified minority hires caused the accident because the prior administration thought “the workforce was too white.” When pressed for even a shred of evidence, he shrugged that it was “common sense.” Administration figures like Vice President Vance stuck with the claim even after learning that both pilots involved were white.
The claim was ridiculous, but it sucked up attention that might have gone to the Trump administration’s own moves instead. And that’s exactly why we keep seeing lies like these — to protect incompetent politicians and the corporate interests that prop them up.
Once you realize that, you’ll start noticing it everywhere.
For instance, there’s ample evidence that climate change contributed to Southern California’s horrific wildfires this winter. But rather than implicate the campaign-contributing fossil fuel companies that have supercharged these disasters, right-wing influencers blamed “DEI” hires like women firefighters.
About a year ago, when a foreign cargo ship destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, the same crowd had nothing to say about regulating shipping companies or infrastructure safety. Instead, they just started calling the city’s Black mayor, Brandon Scott, the “DEI mayor.”
And finally, we saw an earlier version of this script when a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling toxic chemicals and burning them up in a noxious cloud over the impoverished town.
Norfolk Southern had skimped on maintenance, overstretched its workers, and plowed the savings into stock buybacks rather than safety. The company had also poured money into Ohio’s statehouse, which killed a bipartisan rail safety bill the company had lobbied against.
The talking heads on Fox News didn’t have anything to say about that — or about President Trump’s decision to nix an Obama-era regulation to prevent accidents like these during his first term.
Instead, right-wing multimillionaires like Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk claimed the accident happened because President Biden didn’t care about the poor whites of rural Ohio. (Kirk even claimed the episode proved there was a whole “crusade against white people.”)
At best, these obviously false claims suck the oxygen out of any discussions that might involve the incompetence of politicians or misdeeds of their corporate supporters. At worst, they foster division for its own sake. Neither makes us safer.
As Trump, Musk, and their allies illegally purge federal agencies and open the floodgates to corporate malfeasance of all varieties, more disasters like these are almost inevitable. And just as inevitably, they’ll blame DEI, immigrants, LGBTQ people, or some other scapegoat when that happens.
For our hard-earned tax dollars, most of us just want the government to protect our communities and our planet — even when that’s less profitable for a few corporations. But to get that, we’ll have to pull together across the divides their backers like to drive between us.
Peter Certo is the communications director of the Institute for Policy Studies and editor of OtherWords.org.
URBANA - Early Sunday morning, Urbana Police responded to a tragic scene at the intersection of University Avenue and Coler Avenue, where a severe traffic collision claimed the life of a young woman and left several others injured.
The incident, reported at 1:55 AM, involved a Honda Civic traveling eastbound on University Avenue, which had come to a stop at Coler Avenue due to a red traffic signal. According to preliminary investigations by Urbana Police, moments later, a Mitsubishi SUV traveling in the same direction approached at a high rate of speed and collided with the Civic. The impact resulted in extensive damage to both vehicles and caused severe injuries to all five occupants of the Civic.
In a statement from the Urbana Police Department, emergency responders from the Urbana Fire Department were quickly summoned to the scene, where they worked to extricate the injured passengers and administer life-saving measures. Of the five individuals in the Civic, two were discharged from the hospital after receiving treatment for minor injuries. Tragically, a 20-year-old woman who was a passenger in the Civic succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. The identity of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of family members by the Champaign County Coroner’s office.
Following the collision, the driver of the Mitsubishi SUV fled the scene on foot, heading southbound on Coler Avenue. Despite efforts by law enforcement, the driver remains at large. Urbana Police detectives, along with an accident reconstruction investigator, conducted a thorough examination of the scene as part of the ongoing investigation.
Urbana Police have appealed to the public for assistance, urging anyone with information about the incident to come forward. They can contact the Urbana Police Department at 217-384-2320. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through Crime Stoppers via phone at 217-373-TIPS (217-373-8477), online at 373tips.com, or through the "P3 Tips" mobile app.
While the investigation is ongoing, the Urbana Police Department plans to release further details as the investigation progresses.
