Dear Editor,

Donald Trump’s impulse to politicize the tragedy from the airplane collision with the Black Hawk helicopter at Reagan International Airport is sad, yet predictable. He blames others, but there is evidence that he is at least partially responsible. It was he who purged many key staff who had made US air space safe. Trump began to dismantle the US government as soon as he took office, purging officials and civil servants with the accusation that they had been poisoned by “Marxism,” or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Transportation safety officials were among those purged, individuals with years of experience in airline safety. He forced the person at the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) during Biden’s presidency, Mike Whitaker, to resign after he clashed with Elon Musk. Whitaker had called for Musk’s SpaceX company to be fined $633,009 over safety and environmental violations. Musk claimed that this was over non-safety issues that had already been determined to have no environmental impact and wrote: “He needs to resign.”  

As a side issue, Heather Cox Richardson cites the Tesla annual financial report filed on January 30, which showed that the company, which is valued at more than $1 trillion and which made $2.3 billion in 2024, paid $0 in federal income tax. He can afford this fine. Money brings power and power then brings money, which brings more power. It’s symbiotic. We are seeing this now poisoning our government from within.  

Heather Cox Richardson, in her January 30th “Letters from an American,” lists the fallout from these forced purges. “Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office, (January 20). That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Other vacant positions at the FAA (presumably to be filled with loyalists), according to CNN’s Alexandra Skores, are ‘the deputy administrator, an associate administrator of airports, an associate administrator for security and hazardous materials safety, chief counsel, assistant administrator of communications, assistant administrator of government and industry affairs, and assistant administrator for policy, international affairs, and environment.’”

In a press conference, Trump said that the people responsible for the accident were not of “superior intelligence.” He claimed that his Democratic predecessors had lowered standards for air traffic controllers, and that Pete Buttigieg, head of the Dept. of Transportation under Biden, had been a disaster for air safety. Later we learned that the air traffic controller handling the situation on the night of the crash was doing the work of two because they were short staffed. 

In response to Trump’s comments, Buttigieg posted: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”

He's good at blaming, purging, and filling these positions with loyalists, to the detriment of the flying public. It’s important to know the danger Trump poses with these sweeping purges.  “Trump will fix it” was his campaign slogan. Do his fixes make us safer? I doubt it.

Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County