As President Donald Trumpattempted to vilify diversity initiatives in the wake of the worst U.S. air disaster in decades, progressives warned that the true threat to aviation safety going forward is Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's shared goal of gutting the federal workforce and eliminating regulatory efforts that have helped make flying the nation's least dangerous form of transportation.
"We need to learn more about what happened and how to prevent this type of catastrophe in the future," Joel Payne, chief communications officer at MoveOn Civil Action, said in a statement Thursday. "But one thing is for sure—our air safety and disaster response relies on the same type of federal funding and resources that Donald Trump and his right-wing billionaire backers like Elon Musk have been moving to cut."
Echoing others, Payne noted since Trump's second term began less than two weeks ago, he implemented a hiring freeze that appears to include air traffic controllers and dismantled the Aviation Security Advisory Committee. Payne also pointed to Musk's role in leaving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without a permanent leader following the collision of a passenger jet and Army helicopter that killed 64 people.
"There are real consequences for the American people from the chaos and mismanagement that we have already seen since Trump took office," said Payne. "As we work to learn the lessons of this tragedy, we need Trump, his allies, and his administration to end their assault on the public services that are essential to keeping us safe."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) similarly argued that "what actually hurts aviation safety" is "purging the federal workforce of career public servants and experts who have spent their entire lives working to keep the American people safe."
The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release a preliminary report on the deadly collision within 30 days as investigators work to determine the immediate causes of the catastrophic incident.
As Common Dreamsreported, the FAA indicated Thursday that air traffic control staffing was "not normal" at the time of the collision. Air traffic control understaffing is a nationwide problem that analysts said could be exacerbated by the new administration's far-reaching attacks on federal workers and funding.
"The government is a complex and delicate system. Letting Elon Musk thrash around inside it like some silage-drunk bull in a red-cape factory will cause untold damage," The American Prospect's Ryan Cooper wrote Thursday. "The details are still being investigated. It's too early in the process for the crash to be definitively pinned on the policies of Trump and Musk. But if we want more airline disasters, Trump and Musk are on just the right collision course."