The DC plane crash, DEI and Trump’s talk show presidency

Emergency vehicles and recovery operations are seen near the mouth of the Anacostia River at the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

I know Donald Trump’s moves.

Among my media incarnations, I was one of the first Asian American Filipino hot talk radio hosts in the country in Washington, DC, San Francisco and Sacramento. I worked with Morton Downey Jr. I went up against Rush Limbaugh. I know their tricks.

As does Donald Trump.

So, I wasn’t surprised when the convicted felon and president made his first comments on the DC air disaster last week.

Were you hoping for something more personal and human? Like maybe saying something on the first victims whose names were released, like 16-year-old Spencer Lane, a Korean adoptee, who was living his dream life in the US as one of the great future stars of US figure skating.

You may like: Fil-Am figure skater mourns teammates killed in DC plane crash

There were six Asian Americans who died in the crash in all: Angela Yang, Jinna Ha, her mother Jin Han, Azra Hussain Raza and Sarah Lee Best.

Another Asian national, Philippine National Police Col. Pergentino Malabed was also on board.

And, of course, no shout outs from Trump.

At the beginning, Trump stuck to a script and was solemn at first, talking about this “dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and our nation’s history.”

He talked about his heart being shattered and how he and the first lady were there to wipe away the tears.

But maybe it wasn’t like when he lost that 2023 sexual abuse case involving E. Jean Carroll and ordered to pay $5 million.

Still, he was trying. This is the paragraph to fixate on:

“In minutes like this, the difference between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all both as Americans and even as nations. We are one family and today we are all heartbroken, we’re all searching for answers…”

I wish he believed that.

Because that’s the guy America needs more of – that Trump. The guy who was at the Carter funeral. We need the unifier. The Trump that dissolves our differences and brings us together. Not the disruptor, the Musk enabler, the destroyer of democracy.

For a few short minutes we got that good Trump. But that’s the Trump that lasts just a few short minutes.

Because in a wink, he turned all he had said into a lie.

Trump took a hard pivot to his talk show demons that dictated his actions.

Divide. Polarize. Light up the phones. Get a response.

And it’s all about his opinion, not facts about what caused the crash.

It was the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies of previous administrations, according to Trump.

“I put safety first,” Trump said. “Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first.”

His proof?

“Common sense,” Trump said, which is to say there was no proof. Just another swipe at minorities and people of color being inferior and less qualified to white men, the Trump bro standard.

And all without knowing the true facts of the incident. Who was in air traffic control? Or the pilots involved. The NTSB hadn’t even begun an investigation that could take years. Yet, Trump was willing to rile up the country with his racist diatribe that people of color and minorities were at the root cause of the crash.

The employment stats of air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists by gender and race are about 78 percent male, and 72 percent white, according to Axios.

Hispanics are just 14 percent; Blacks, 14 percent; Asians, 3 percent.

It points to the need for a more diverse workforce in that sector. But Trump thinks white is right and repeated the racist notion that hiring women and minorities means hiring “unqualified” people.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

The air disaster was there for Trump’s to exploit, and so he did. What it really provided was a major distraction—from everything Trump is doing in the first two weeks. He is more than just hitting the ground running. He is detonating the material for the implosion of American government. The firing of careerists at the Justice Department and the FBI to be replaced by loyalists?  Elon Musk’s DOGE crew has access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems?

Trump used the crash to mask his crashing of our American government.

Shielding his unqualified nominees

While the crash and DEI filled the news,  Trump’s own undeniably unqualified minority nominees to key cabinet members were being grilled on the Hill.

Kash Patel, the man who would be Trump’s loyal FBI bulldog, was exposed by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse as being one who would go after Trump critics in the media, while going soft on Jan.6 loyalists who are now part of Trump’s unofficial militia. Patel was also called unqualified and untrustworthy by Republican appointees.

Hawaii’s Tulsi Gabbard, up for national intelligence director, had a hard time answering Republican’s yes or no questions whether Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower now exiled in Russia, was a traitor. Should she be trusted with our national secrets? No.

RFK Jr., whom Trump wants to shake up health care in America, sounded like a patrician who doesn’t know the difference between Medicare or Medicaid, let alone good vaccines or bad vaccines. His opinion seems driven by money. He would be a danger to Americans.

In the meantime, as people watch the news or discuss DEI, what gets left out of the discussion?

Asian Americans.

Left out again

And it’s not just the Fox types.

CNN’s Abby Phillip, whom I like, even did it while criticizing Trump.

“We can’t ignore the divisiveness of it. The way in which it is literally villainizing and putting a target on the back of women, Black people, Hispanic people,” said Philip on CNN on Saturday. Then, when she realized she needed to be inclusive added to the litany, “gay people, trans people, that’s happening too.”

And Asian Americans?  Are we implied? Or are we left out?

Maybe we’re left out because it was the Asian students who sued Harvard to end affirmative action. But they were a small minority and used by right-wing anti-affirmative action advocates.

Maybe it’s because there’s still strong Trump support in our community. But the vast majority are not Trump supporters. And around 60 percent were pro-affirmative action. Maybe it’s the model minority tag. Our stereotype precedes us.

But make no mistake, DEI programs have always helped Asian Americans. Now that many have been revised, neutered or killed, they surely won’t be as helpful now.

We should mourn that, since that’s the president’s doing. And those of us who have been helped in the past should speak out (as I have in my previous column).

But first, we shouldn’t get pulled down by Trump. The national tragedy of the air disaster is not over.

There are bodies still in the Potomac River.

We should mourn the dead from that DC crash. All of them, not just the Asian and Asian Americans. All of them. And hope it never happens again. No doubt human factors will play a part in the cause. It won’t be because of their race or lack of intellect. The NTSB will find that out.

Until then, let’s focus on who was lost and remember them, and turn the channel on Trump’s talk show games that only serve to mask the real things that matter.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist and commentator. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He’s written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995.

Watch his micro-talk show “Emil Amok’s Takeout/What Does an Asian American Think?” on www.YouTube.com/emilamok1  Or join him on http://www.patreon.com/emilamok