Pete Buttigieg Claps Back at President Trump After He Blames Him and Diversity for Plane Crash: ‘He Should Be Leading, Not Lying'
Buttigieg was just one of many people that Trump blamed for the crash

Michigan's LGBTQ+ community can once again stand proud of our own Pete Buttigieg, who showed grace under fire while forcefully shutting down Trump's latest attempt to weaponize a tragedy.
After a devastating collision between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk Army helicopter claimed over 60 lives on Jan. 29, Trump predictably used the incident to target diversity initiatives and to launch a personal attack on the former Biden administration official.
Trump kicked off his tirade by claiming "The FAA determined that the workforce was too white. They actually came out with a directive, too white, and we want the people that are competent." He went on to assert that "The FAA diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing," while admitting he had no information about the actual cause of the accident.
When pressed by New York Times reporter David Sanger about how he could conclude diversity played a role in the crash, Trump responded, "Because I have common sense, OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't," adding, "I put safety first — Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first."
Then came the personal attack, with Trump calling Buttigieg a "disaster" who had "a good line of bullshit" and ran the FAA "right into the ground with his diversity."
"Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," Buttigieg responded on X, and the former U.S. Transportation Secretary didn't stop there, defending his record with receipts: "We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of our watch."
In his tweet, Buttigieg pointed out that Trump currently oversees both the military and the FAA, noting, "One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe."
Buttigieg challenged Trump to "show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."
The bottom line is that Trump currently oversees both the military and the FAA. No matter how he wants to slice it, this tragic accident happened under his watch, and it happened a week after the Trump administration sent a memo to the Aviation Security Advisory Committee announcing that the Department of Homeland Security would be dismissing the membership of all advisory committees, citing a "commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security." Concurrently, Trump dismissed the administrators of both the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.
As recovery efforts continue and investigators work to understand what actually caused this devastating collision, one thing is crystal clear: Trump's ability to make any tragedy about himself while throwing marginalized communities under the bus remains unmatched.
Buttigieg’s response is a reminder that it doesn’t have to be this way forever.