The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Was Trump Right on DEI Being at Fault for D.C. Plane Crash?

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

On this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” a Daily Signal original series, Hanson discusses the controversy surrounding Donald Trump's blunt comments about diversity, equity, and inclusion potentially being at fault in the recent commercial jet/Army helicopter collision outside of Washington. “ We do know this, and Donald Trump brought it up, and that was that the FAA consistently under Joe Biden had racial quotas, and they abolished programs, and universities that encouraged people who had either expertise through the curriculum or prior military experience who would do well on meritocratic exams to try to join the FAA—and they were rejected because of their race.” “ My point is that when [Trump] did that, everybody in the media thought it was awful. But then people who probably didn’t even vote for him said, 'Wait a minute. I want to be safe. I want my daughter to be safe. I want my husband to be safe. You mean there’s people in these control towers that were selected for criteria other than merit?'” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. People are really angry at Donald Trump because in this tragedy of the airline accident, Donald Trump actually said things that were quite blunt. He said that DEI was maybe at fault. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. And today we're being sponsored in part by the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. and it's wonderful dean of the school, Pete Peterson. I'd like to talk a day about an irony.

Maybe it's something that's a paradox. Have you noticed that there's certain people who are coming out of the woodwork who are diehard Trump opponents, and suddenly they say, well, kind of sort of, I like Donald Trump, or they don't say it publicly, or they don't write it emphatically? And here's what I mean. He went to Davos, and I thought, wow, they're going to destroy don't. I don't mean destroy him effectively, but they're going to

try to destroy him. And then the question and answers was amazing. He outlined tax reform, transparency, low interest rates, targeted tariffs, more energy development, more fossil fuels, closed borders. I thought, wow, that is going to drive the Davos people crazy. And then the questions were, are you sure you can send us the liquid natural gas? We need it. or there were, this sounds great, but when will it start? And you start to think, well, these are capitalists and they want Europe to be turned to its former grandeur. And all of a sudden, this man is saying something that is exactly opposite of the socialism

that destroyed their countries and which they bought into, and now they don't have to do it. And they're secretly, but more openly even, admiring Donald Trump. Same phenomenon happened when I was on campus, not telling the Stanford campus, a professor, whom I know came up to me, and I would say that he is a moderately anti-Trumper, never Trumper maybe. And he sort of whispered, sort of said, wow, the end of DEI is actually not that bad, is it? And what he was saying is there's no more racial quotas. And maybe I wanted to be a dean. I'm saying, I'm extrapolating what he was saying.

Maybe I want to be a dean, or maybe I want to get published at the University Press, and there's not going to be any racial quotas anymore or discrimination. And I'm for that because the deeth eye is a monstrosity. There won't be any czar that calls me up and says your syllabus doesn't have enough DEI material in it. Or I've looked at your grading pattern and you're in orderly giving Cs to people of color. No more commissars. So even they, they are kind of, you know, happy that Donald's. Trump is doing this. And then we get into the FAA and people are really angry at Donald Trump

because in this tragedy of the airline accident, Donald Trump actually said things that were quite blunt. He said that DEI was maybe at fault. And we now know that the, and I don't want to get into a critique yet of the crash, but it seems like the helicopter was too low and there was culpability. It seems like one of the air traffic controllers was not there. It seems like somebody left early. It seems like there was a mistake on giving directions about the proper elevations. But we do know this, and Donald Trump brought it up. And that was that the FAA, consistently under Joe Biden, had racial quotas. And they abolish programs and universities that encourage people who had either expertise through the curriculum or prior military experience,

who would do well on meritocratic exams to try to join the FAA, and they were rejected because of their race. That is a fact. And, there has been several lawsuits challenging the FAA. And the first nomination to the FAA, of course, the candidate that Biden picked didn't even know this fundamentals of aviation. He came from the Denver airport, but he didn't have any knowledge of the actual mechanics of how airports worked, it seemed. My point is that when he did that, everybody in the media thought it was awful. But then people who probably didn't even vote for him said, well, wait a minute.

I want to be safe. I want my daughter to be safe. I want my husband be safe. You mean there's people in these control towers that were selected for criteria other than merit? And while it might have been illiberal or maybe kind of inconvenient, Donald Trump told the truth. What I'm getting at is this. This country has moved so far to the left on energy, on DEI, on transgenderism, on crime, on the border, that people, even who supported it, whether they're the people in L.A. that lost their homes or are the people who voted for Adam Schiff?

And we saw what he did at the nomination. They want a return. And this man is the only person, Donald Trump, with the guts and the backbone, to not just make a transition, not to the far right, back to the center or the center of traditional right, that secretly, at least for now, they are happy that it's going on because they feel that they and most Americans will be the beneficiaries. And you know what's correct? They're absolutely right. Thank you. This is Victor Davis-Hanson for The Daily Signal. Thank you so much for tuning in today.

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