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U.S. Rep. Becca Balint says Trump’s ‘disgusting’ plane crash press conference proves ‘he is not well’

Becca Balint and Donald Trump
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Vermont U.S. Rep. Becca Balint at a press conference; Donald Trump speaks to reporters about the collision of an American Airlines flight with a military Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport.

”I have to say something,” the Vermont congresswoman said about calling attention to the president’s bizarre behavior.

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In a moment that should have called for national unity and leadership, President Donald Trump instead used his first major crisis back in the White House to stoke division, push conspiracy theories, and launch baseless attacks on his political opponents. His response to the devastating midair collision over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that left 67 people dead was so jarring that Democratic Vermont U.S. Rep. Becca Balint said it confirmed what many Americans already fear — he is “not well.”

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In a video posted to social media, Balint, who serves on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the House Budget Committee, blasted Trump for his lack of empathy and obsessive focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies as a scapegoat for the disaster. Without evidence, Trump blamed DEI, former President Barack Obama, former President Joe Biden, and gay former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for the crash rather than acknowledging the ongoing investigation into what happened and allowing people to mourn the tragedy.

“This press conference was unhinged, even by Trump’s standards,” Balint said. “People are grieving, families are in shock, and instead of offering leadership or empathy, the president turned this into a bizarre political circus. He is not well. This is not how a leader behaves.”

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Standing behind the White House podium on Thursday morning, Trump — without any supporting evidence — speculated that hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration were responsible for the tragedy, insisting that his administration would “reverse the damage done by DEI and woke policies.” He claimed that under Biden, air traffic controllers were recruited based on race, gender, and disability rather than skill, even though there is no factual basis for his assertion.

Related: Pete Buttigieg blasts ‘despicable’ Donald Trump for blaming D.C. plane crash on DEI

Trump also lashed out at Buttigieg, calling him a “disaster” and claiming that he focused on diversity instead of safety. “He’s just got a good line of bullshit,” Trump sneered.

Buttigieg immediately fired back at Trump’s claims, calling them “despicable.” In a statement on social media, Buttigieg rebuked Trump for spreading misinformation instead of focusing on solutions. “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," Buttigieg said. "We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”

Trump also seemingly blamed the Army helicopter pilot for the midair collision, saying, “You could have stopped the helicopter. You could have gone up, you could have gone down. You could have done a million different maneuvers. For some reason, it just kept going.”

The president further suggested the air traffic controller may also have been at fault, imagining what he believed should have been done to prevent the crash. “A tragic, tragic story. So I don’t know. Do you blame it on the air traffic controller too, in addition to the pilots? They should’ve seen it. I would’ve thought they should’ve seen it.”

Asked how he knew that DEI played any role in the disaster, Trump scoffed, “Because I have common sense, and unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”

Later in the day, Trump summoned the White House press pool into the Oval Office to sign a series of executive orders. Among them was a formal appointment of Chris Rochelau as deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, where he will serve as acting administrator in the absence of a Senate-confirmed leader.

Trump also signed a directive titled “Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety,” ordering a full review of FAA hiring practices under Biden. “In light of the damage done to aviation safety by the Biden administration’s DEI and woke policies, what this presidential memorandum orders is your secretary of transportation and FAA administrator to basically ensure that we are actively undoing all of that damage,” said Will Scharf, Trump’s staff secretary.

“We want the most competent people. We don’t care what race they are. We want the most competent people, especially in those positions,” Trump said. “If they don’t have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they’re not going to be very good at what they do, and bad things will happen.”

In an interview with The Advocate on Thursday evening, Balint, a lesbian, described Trump’s behavior as “sickening.”

“I just want to be really clear. I think the man is not well, and it is absolutely disgusting,” she said. “It’s not just that the families of the victims — those who were on the helicopter, the servicemen and women, the passengers on the plane — are grieving. Certainly, Kansas is grieving. But he showed so little compassion and turned so quickly to his ongoing political grievances and culture wars. He didn’t even understand that this horrible tragedy has shaken the entire capital.”

Balint, who represents Vermont but spends significant time in Washington, emphasized how deeply the crash has affected the city.

“People use that airport all the time,” she said. “This was a loss for the nation, not just for those families who were on that plane or on that helicopter. And for him to turn it into just another press conference about himself and how he’s better than his predecessors is sickening.”

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines jet carrying 64 people, including several figure skaters, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three service members near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. The crash, which happened over the Potomac River, resulted in a catastrophic loss of life, with emergency responders confirming there were no survivors. Investigators have not yet determined the official cause of the crash, though initial reports indicate that both aircraft were operating in standard flight patterns before the collision.

Balint pointed out how Republicans frequently insist on avoiding political discussions in the wake of mass shootings yet wasted no time using this disaster to attack DEI and push their agenda. Trump’s Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, and Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, have indicated that DEI programs are the cause of weakness in the government.

“We should not be hearing any of that from the secretaries or department heads,” Balint said. “We should be hearing, ‘We are going to get to the bottom of this, and we stand absolutely with the people who lost their lives today and their families.’ Period. That’s it. For them to turn this into yet another DEI witch hunt is absolutely against everything that we say we are as Americans.”

Balint warned that Trump’s fixation on DEI is a deliberate distraction from real policy issues affecting Americans.

“[Republicans] don’t give a damn about you,” she said. “They don’t care whether you are struggling with the price of eggs or don’t have housing. They don’t care that thousands of jobs for regular people are at risk because of these stupid policy proposals around tariffs, around freezing federal funds, or firing wholesale the federal workforce. They don’t give a damn.”

She accused Trump and his allies of using DEI as a scapegoat while ignoring real issues.

“It is about axe-grinding and trying to make this country continue to turn in upon itself so they can amass more power,” Balint said. “I know my colleagues in Congress are going to continue to draw the contrast between what our constituents are telling us they want us to be working on and what this administration has done with its first 10 days in charge.”

For Balint, Trump’s response to the crash wasn’t just inappropriate — it was a warning sign for the nation. “We are turning a corner where we no longer as a nation know how to act appropriately in times of great tragedy,” she said. “That’s terrifying.”

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Christopher Wiggins

Christopher Wiggins is a senior national reporter for The Advocate. He has a rich career in storytelling and highlighting underrepresented voices. Growing up in a bilingual household in Germany, his German mother and U.S. Army father exposed him to diverse cultures early on, influencing his appreciation for varied perspectives and communication. His work in Washington, D.C., primarily covers the nexus of public policy, politics, law, and LGBTQ+ issues. Wiggins' reporting focuses on revealing lesser-known stories within the LGBTQ+ community. Key moments in his career include traveling with Vice President Kamala Harris and interviewing her in the West Wing about LGBTQ+ support. In addition to his national and political reporting, Wiggins represents The Advocate in the White House Press Pool and is a member of several professional journalistic organizations, including the White House Correspondents’ Association, Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, and Society of Professional Journalists. His involvement in these groups highlights his commitment to ethical journalism and excellence in the field. Follow him on X/Twitter @CWNewser (https://twitter.com/CWNewser) and Threads @CWNewserDC (https://www.threads.net/@cwnewserdc).
Christopher Wiggins is a senior national reporter for The Advocate. He has a rich career in storytelling and highlighting underrepresented voices. Growing up in a bilingual household in Germany, his German mother and U.S. Army father exposed him to diverse cultures early on, influencing his appreciation for varied perspectives and communication. His work in Washington, D.C., primarily covers the nexus of public policy, politics, law, and LGBTQ+ issues. Wiggins' reporting focuses on revealing lesser-known stories within the LGBTQ+ community. Key moments in his career include traveling with Vice President Kamala Harris and interviewing her in the West Wing about LGBTQ+ support. In addition to his national and political reporting, Wiggins represents The Advocate in the White House Press Pool and is a member of several professional journalistic organizations, including the White House Correspondents’ Association, Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, and Society of Professional Journalists. His involvement in these groups highlights his commitment to ethical journalism and excellence in the field. Follow him on X/Twitter @CWNewser (https://twitter.com/CWNewser) and Threads @CWNewserDC (https://www.threads.net/@cwnewserdc).