President Trump signed a few executive orders this afternoon, including the appointment of Chris Rocheleau as acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.

He also signed an EO ordering an immediate assessment of aviation safety to ensure the damage resulting from the Biden administration’s obsession with DEI is undone.

Reporters quickly began asking questions about his DEI comments from this morning, suggesting he’s blaming those policies for the crash.

Trump responded that he doesn’t know if gender or race played a role in the crash, but that he wants the most competent people as air traffic controllers, regardless of race or gender:

 
Another reporter asked him about why he brought up DEI if he doesn’t know whether that played a role in the crash. Once again, Trump underscored that he’s talking about competence:

 
Lastly, one reporter asked if Trump thought his resignation offer to federal employees would create shortages at the FAA, creating more problems. Trump said ‘no’ and made clear that if people aren’t coming back to the office to work, they will be terminated and they will be replaced with competent people.

Reporters hate President Trump’s DEI comments because, by making them, he’s establishing the fact that the last president had terrible policies and if this played a role in last night’s crash, that’s the president they should blame, not him.