Little People of America slams Trump’s ‘horrific’ DEI remarks
Jan 31, 2025, 1:29 PM | Updated: 1:30 pm
President Donald Trump takes questions after delivering remarks in the Brady Press briefing room on the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Kent Nishimura, Getty Images)
(Photo: Kent Nishimura, Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s comments after the deadly mid-air collision of an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., killing 64 people on board, sparked some controversy when DEI initiatives were blamed.
“When I left office and Biden took over, he changed the (policies) back to lower than ever before,” Trump said. “I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”
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Trump added DEI allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and “dwarfism.”
Little People of America member reacts on KIRO Newsradio
Alex Soos, a member of Little People of America (LPA), described Trump’s comments as “horrific.”
“For him, not 24 hours later, to draw this arrow to DEI, it’s just horrific,” Soos told KIRO Newsradio Thursday. “It’s unacceptable for any public servant to speak in that manner. That’s just horrific that he would single out the disabled community … that’s just shocking to me.”
LPA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of little people and people living with dwarfism.
“We try our best to build careers to the best of our ability, and we want to be accepted in the workplace,” Soos said. “We want to receive mentorship. We want to receive community in the same ways that anyone else does when they go to work.”
Reading from a 2024 Fox News report, Trump listed conditions that he suggested disqualify people from being air traffic controllers: “Hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”
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But, according to The Washington Post, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began hiring air traffic controllers with the conditions that Trump decried during his first presidential term.
“If you know someone who is a (little person), now is the time to call them. Reach out to them,” Soos added. “Tell them that you care about them and that you’re standing with them because this is obviously hitting pretty close to home.”
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest and producer of the Seattle Seahawks podcast, The Reset with Gee Scott. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
