How right-wing influencers turned airplanes and airports into culture war battlegrounds
In recent weeks, right-wing pundits have zeroed in on airline DEI programs and the presence of migrants in airports.
The conservative media ecosystem is piggybacking on Americans’ fascination with air travel to stir up opposition to corporate diversity programs, an effort that may raise the salience of culture war issues at the start of the 2024 election year even as their claims are largely based on false or misleading information.
In recent weeks, right-wing influencers, politicians and media outlets have repeatedly attacked efforts by airlines to find more job applicants who are women or nonwhite, programs that are known within big corporations as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Some of their attacks are getting millions of views on social media and being picked up by Republican politicians.
But the outsized criticism of the programs in the airline industry and the speculation about their effects doesn’t reflect reality, according to airline employees who spoke to NBC News
On Fox Business, a former Federal Aviation Administration employee claimed without citing specific incidents that diversity commitments from airlines could lead to safety issues, even though airlines say they haven’t changed their standards and that DEI efforts are about finding qualified-but-overlooked job candidates.
When a wheel fell off a jet on an Atlanta runway last weekend, Donald Trump Jr. suggested without evidence that diversity efforts were to blame.
