The Guardian view on the Washington DC plane crash: Trump’s warped priorities | Editorial

andEW extends from the airspace on this planet is busy or carefully monitored like the sky over Washington, DC. Commercial and military aircraft move there at all times. The largest concentration Rigan National AirportThe main local axis of the city, which sits on the West Bank of the Botomac River in the sight of the Capitol Dome.

No one knows how it was a Black Hawk military helicopter Collide With the American eagle trip from Whitchita over Botomac on Wednesday evening. But the destruction was total. No survivors of 64 people were found on the Kansas plane or among the three helicopters crew. By early ThursdayThe rescue voltage was already a recovery process. The bodies were lifted from the ice river water throughout the day.

A plane with collective tasks crash Rare wisely. The last one in the United States was In 2009. But the collapse on this sensitive site, as aircraft congestion was constantly controversy, will always attract extraordinary attention. It was also very likely that the human tragedy would become a mortgage in the exciting policy of Donald Trump’s second administration, which has already turned into its revenge beam on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which organizes civil aviation, airports and air traffic control systems.

This possibility has become certain as for hours of Wednesday’s disaster, when Mr. Trump published his provocative version of the questions it is believed to be raised by the accident. “Why did the helicopter not rise, fall, or spin?” He asked. “Why did the helicopter control tower not tell what to do instead of asking whether they see the plane?” The accident “seems to have been prevented. Not good !!!”

With any natural criteria, this was an unusual intervention. But this president, in his first week at the White House, has already chosen an inflammatory battle with FAA for safety. Last week, In the executive orderOrder it to end the rules of diversity, fairness and integration in the employment policy. The agency also ordered a review of the performance and standards of all FAA employees in “critical safety positions”. Although it has no taste and inappropriate, Mr. Trump’s post indicates his willingness – which he did nothing at all to waste at the press conference on Thursday – to blame FAA in the Botomac tragedy.

But it may also highlight a specific security vulnerability. There is no direct link between Mr. Trump’s design to reduce the federal workforce, which leads to deducting its organizational functions, and the atmosphere broke this week. But his ambitious assault on the role of the government and its authority, which was conducted behind a smoke screen of anti -diversity propaganda, sits uncomfortable alongside off -off attacks on a reliable air traffic control system. The public was reminded of it strongly.

If so, it may be in line with other signs that Mr. Trump’s administration will not have its own things. This week, the president tried this Freezing All government grants and loans, which displays risk programs ranging from disaster relief to cancer research. This step caused chaos for the demands and employees. But a judge has now been this effort, and Republican lawmakers face politically backlash. Some consolation will be if this terrible loss of lives, which confirms the importance that cannot be proven to public safety, is a general and similar political reaction against Mr. Trump’s shameful attempt to destroy the Angolan armed forces.

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