In January 2025, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump kicked off his presidency by attributing a deadly midair collision in Washington, D.C., to diversity policies. Right-wing media quickly followed suit, offering an early glimpse of how the administration and its allies would confront tragedies on their watch: by pushing politically charged narratives ahead of verified information. Now, a new report highlights how “multiple failures across different parts of the government” were responsible for the crash, citing eight main factors none of which included DEI initiatives.

The day after the crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people, Trump and his administration pointed to DEI policies as part of the cause, claiming that a group within the FAA had “determined that the [FAA] workforce was too white” and signing an executive order ”aimed at undoing all of that damage" from “Biden administration's DEI and woke policies.” Trump further claimed, “We want the most competent people. We don't care what race they are,” even as he admitted that “we don’t know” what caused the crash but that “common sense” helped him reach his conclusion. 

Right-wing media fell in line with the Trump administration’s effort to essentially blame the crash on the hiring of women, nonwhite, and disabled people through diversity policies. Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed that the crash “is why DEI can be dangerous.” Fox News host Will Cain claimed, “DEI is a policy that exacerbates human error.” Fox News host Jesse Watters used the tragedy to say people should be “suspicious” that DEI plays a role in disasters. He continued, “When DEI is in place, which it was at the FAA, standards get lowered, staffing's affected.” 

Scapegoating DEI was not a new tactic for right-wing media, which had previously blamed DEI for the 2024 Baltimore bridge collapse, the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, and ongoing issues with Boeing planes.  

Now, a new report highlights how “multiple failures across different parts of the government” were responsible for the crash, citing eight main factors, none of which included DEI.

The attempts to cynically exploit the crash were just a preview for how MAGA would handle tragedies in Trump’s second term. In the past year, conservative media lied about the ideological profile of a man who killed Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband; covered for the Department of Homeland Security’s repeated immigration abuses that included the killing of two Minnesotans; and baselessly targeted an innocent Palestinian student after a shooting at Brown University. 

In each of these incidents, the Trump administration and its media allies moved quickly to establish a political narrative before facts were established, which often takes time and investigation. The result was a cycle in which speculation hardened into talking points, shaping public perception before a full and careful accounting of the truth could take place. By the time the actual facts came to light, the narrative was set and right-wing media had already moved on to the next outrage cycle.