gotchanewsdaily.com 
A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.
CNN
—
Less than a day after the deadly collision of American Airlines Flight 5342 and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter killed 67 people over the Potomac River, President Donald Trump said common sense already told him what to blame: diversity programs creating a class of unqualified federal workers.
At the same moment Trump was making these outlandish comments from the White House briefing room, three of his most controversial nominees were facing serious questions on Capitol Hill about their lack of traditional qualifications to lead the FBI, coordinate the nation’s spy agencies and administer its public health system.
This is the incredible irony of Trump 2.0, where the new president is claiming a broad mandate to deconstruct the federal bureaucracy as it exists today and promising to cull the federal workforce with broad and insulting claims about the fitness of federal workers even though every air traffic controller passes the same aptitude test.
Meanwhile, there’s evidence that the universe of more than two million federal employees may, in some very specific ways, be too small for a country of 330 million people. The Federal Aviation Administration, before Trump’s presidency, reported a shortage of air traffic controllers – about 11,500 air traffic controllers as of May 2024 when staffing plans developed by the FAA and the union representing controllers called for 14,600.
At the time of collision, one controller was working two tower positions, an air traffic control source told CNN. National Transportation Safety Board officials at a press conference, still early in their investigation, would not comment on the report. Asked about Trump’s allegation about diversity programs causing the crash, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy, who Trump first nominated to the position in 2018, said investigators will look at everything – “the human, the machine and the environment” – to determine what went wrong.
Trump acknowledged that his broadside at diversity programs came more from his gut than from any evidence. Here’s his exchange with David Sanger, a New York Times reporter:
Trump did, as part of his blitz of executive actions, end diversity programs specifically at the FAA, which may explain why he is keen to blame them, and former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for the crash. He also read from a year-old online report about efforts at the FAA to hire people with disabilities.
He did not seem to understand the same standards were in place during his first administration and even falsely corrected a reporter who pointed that out.
According to a 2023 FAA report, about 2% of FAA employees had the targeted disabilities Trump mentioned in his comments. But air traffic controllers are a special subset of FAA employees who must meet physical requirements, be tested for drug use, and pass a special aptitude test.
Why were there diversity programs at the FAA?
Despite Trump’s cancellation of diversity programs, the FAA lags the rest of the federal workforce in representing the makeup of the country. The portion of women employed at the FAA, about 24%, is far below that of the larger civilian workforce, 48%. Where White men make up about 36% of the larger federal workforce, they account for more than 55% of employees at the FAA.
Trump clearly does not think all air traffic controllers are unqualified because he later said Americans should still feel safe in the air. But he did promise that his cancellation of diversity programs would improve standards.
Vice President JD Vance, who appeared alongside Trump at the White House briefing room, noted there is a lawsuit filed against the FAA by White air traffic controller applicants because they felt discriminated against due to biographical questions added to a screening text.
The larger war on federal workers
Trump’s claims about diversity dovetail with his expanding efforts to cull the federal workforce with a legally dubious offer to pay without work through September, although it’s only a loose promise.
In remarks on Wednesday, Trump accused federal workers who have flexibility to work remotely of not actually working. Air traffic controllers are among the more than half, 54%, of federal workers who worked fully on-site before Trump’s inauguration.
What does it take to be in Trump’s Cabinet?
While Trump was attacking the qualifications of air traffic controllers, senators were wondering about the qualifications of some of his top administration picks.
Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, is appealing to the president in part because Patel wants to shake up the FBI. He pledged not to engage in a campaign of retribution if confirmed to the 10-year position, despite multiple previous statements about an enemies list and Trump opponents who should be investigated.
Tulsi Gabbard faced skepticism about her plan, as a former Democratic member of Congress, to push for a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who leaked information about classified intelligence programs before fleeing to Russia. Gabbard, who has never formally worked in intelligence, said she will not oppose the controversial NSA domestic wiretapping program Snowden disclosed.
“The FBI and the intelligence services in this country, this is the very heart of the so-called deep state that Donald Trump believes was against him from the start back in 2016 and onward,” said CNN’s Washington bureau chief David Chalian, explaining why Trump wants to shake up the system.
Republican senators would have to break with Trump in order for these candidates’ lack of traditional qualifications to torpedo their nominations. Gabbard faced more scrutiny from Republicans than Patel. She refused to say whether she thinks Snowden is a traitor.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appearing at his second day of hearings to be health and human services secretary, faced questions from a Republican doctor, Sen. Bill Cassidy, about his vaccine skepticism.
