As CNN reported, a 16-year streak of aviation safety ended in tragedy when an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.

This disaster comes after Trump gutted a key aviation safety advisory committee on his first full day in office. As the Associated Press reported:

“President Donald Trump moved quickly to remake the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday, firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard before their terms were up and eliminating all members of a key aviation security advisory group.”

In just ten days, Trump set a precedent of reckless dismissals and deregulation, alarming federal workers with sweeping threats of firings.

If this sequence of events had happened under Biden, Trump would be relentlessly blaming him. Instead, all we hear is Trump deflecting responsibility—blaming DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) rather than his own actions.

Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s Secretary of Transportation posted: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. 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. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”

It’s a clear pattern: Trump weakens safeguards, disaster follows, and then he finds a scapegoat.