Trump's Response to the Potomac Crash Shows His Playbook. The Media Shouldn't Follow It.
As rescue workers were still pulling bodies from the Potomac River on Thursday morning, Donald Trump had already decided who was to blame for the deadly collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter: diversity initiatives.
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Never mind that the investigation had barely begun. Never mind that there’s zero evidence connecting DEI policies to the crash. Never mind that the diversity hiring practices Trump railed against existed throughout his first term. When you’re Donald Trump, every tragedy is an opportunity to advance your culture war agenda.
“Because I have common sense, okay?” Trump said, when asked how he could possibly know diversity initiatives caused the crash. This is the same “common sense” that led him to blame immigrants for a terrorist attack carried out by a U.S. citizen born in Texas, and the same “common sense” that had him blaming California’s water management policies for wildfires.
This is Trump’s playbook, and we’re going to see it deployed again and again during his second term. Any time something goes wrong — whether it’s a natural disaster, an accident, or an act of violence — Trump will find a way to pin the blame on his favorite targets: immigrants, racial minorities, transgender people, or whatever group he’s currently demonizing.
Some media outlets seem unprepared for this reality. NPR, for instance, ran with the credulous headline, “Trump suggests that deadly airliner crash was the result of diversity hiring.” This kind of framing treats Trump’s baseless accusations as worthy of straight news coverage rather than what they are: cynical attempts to weaponize tragedy for political gain.
Consider what Trump actually said during Thursday’s press conference. He claimed the FAA under Obama and Biden “actually came out with a directive, too white,” and rattled off a list of disabilities that he claimed would qualify someone to be an air traffic controller. But as the New York Times reported, these policies existed throughout Trump’s first term. He didn’t change them then, and there’s no evidence they’ve ever compromised air safety.
The real story here isn’t about DEI policies at all — it’s about how quickly Trump moved to exploit a tragedy that killed 67 people to advance his political agenda. While families were still learning whether their loved ones had survived, Trump was already spinning conspiracy theories about diversity initiatives.
This matters because it’s a preview of how Trump will govern. When wildfires strike, he’ll blame environmental regulations. When there’s a mass shooting, he’ll blame whatever marginalized group fits his current narrative. When the economy struggles, he’ll blame immigrants. And each time, some media outlets will dutifully transcribe his claims without proper context or pushback.
We need journalism that doesn’t just repeat accusations but examines the broader pattern. As Rolling Stone’s Miles Klee noted, Trump and his allies have “campaigned ferociously against DEI and repeatedly used it to scapegoat anyone who isn’t a straight, white, cisgender male every time disaster strikes.”
The challenge for journalists is to cover what the president says while making it clear when he’s making unfounded accusations. This isn’t about taking sides; it’s about providing accurate context. When Trump blamed DEI for the crash, many of his own appointees, including Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Hegseth, quickly fell in line, repeating his baseless claims. That’s not governance — it’s propaganda.
The New York Times’ David Sanger got closer to the mark, framing Trump’s remarks as part of a pattern of “his instinct to frame major events through his political or ideological lens, whether the facts fit or not.” This is the context readers need to understand what’s happening.
As we enter Trump’s second term, journalists need to be prepared for this pattern to repeat endlessly. The president will continue to use tragedy as a weapon against his perceived enemies. The question is whether media outlets will help him spread these messages or properly contextualize them as the cynical political maneuvers they are.
The people who died in Wednesday’s crash deserve better than to have their deaths used as ammunition in Trump’s culture wars. Their families deserve better than to see their loved ones’ deaths twisted into talking points about DEI. And the American public deserves journalism that helps them understand what’s really happening, not just what Trump wants them to believe.
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