Diverse Control Tower Tried to Woke Up Military Pilot
Trump vows "common sense" — rather than professional probe — will determine crash cause
Jan. 31: Trump makes stuff up about deadly plane crash on his watch … Anonymous Trump White House source shits on Trump White House … Climate protesters pelt DNC chair candidates with words, sanity … Massive widespread tariffs due tomorrow maybe …
You can listen to the TFN podcast here.
Obviously, your sensitive-to-a-fault TFN would never politicize a horrific tragedy such as Wednesday’s plane crash in Washington. There’s still so much we don’t know, and people are still griev — I’m sorry? What’s that you say? It’s…it’s already been politicized?
Oh. I see.
Well, then.
In that case…
Pres. Donald J. Can’t Help Shoot His Wad Too Soon Trump yesterday blathered on and on about his “common sense” explanation for Wednesday’s crash, the official, professional investigation of which is expected to take a year so that investigators can assess flight data, cockpit voice recorders, and air-traffic-control communications using sophisticated computer modeling and their common sense.
Your late-working TFN did practically a line-by-line dissection of Trump’s news conference in a late-night newsfucking last night1, but Trump did/said other stupid shit I want to flag today, too. Because this is the kind of shit eeeeverybody should know.
The gist of Trump’s premature ejaculations2 yesterday was that diversity in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must have contributed to the crash. Never mind the budget cuts Republicans have extracted for a decade-plus so we don’t have to rely on foreign supply chains for our next 9/11.
As for diversity being the problem, it was the FAA, in all its diverse glory, that politely suggested to the U.S. military helicopter that it not fly into a passenger jet.
The American Prospect’s Ryan Cooper has a good rundown of Trump’s FAA FAAils in just his first two weeks. Among them, Trump’s federal hiring freeze. Air-traffic controllers are federal employees — with high turnover.
Democratic Reps. Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) warned on Jan. 22 that the hiring freeze was dangerous and illegal.
And they had been understaffed since, oh, right, the pandemic. At least, they were understaffed until last year, when that ended under Pres. Joe Biden.
So what did Trump do the same day as Larsen’s and Cohen’s warning? He fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over at the Dept. of Homeland (sic) Security. And simultaneously navigated himself into the flight path of the fully loaded Aviation Security Advisory Committee, forcibly removing a panel widely credited for America’s incredible-until-Trump aviation safety record.
Trump is going to get asked about all of this every day until the White House winnows the press corps down to just sycophants whose toughest question will be which workout routine he uses to maintain his amazing physique.
And yesterday, Trump was asked whether he’d visit the crash site. It’s a standard presidential move; bolster the morale of recovery crews who are spending long days pulling dead ice skaters up from under the ice, and signal solidarity with the families of the dead.
Now, when discussing a crash site for a water disaster, most seasoned officials understand that we’re talking about the recovery staging area, on land or a boat or whatever. In his astoundingly glib response, however, Trump managed to squeeze himself into the middle seat between mismanagement and ignorance, and hog both their arm rests:
Q: Have you spoken to any of the families of the victims of the plane crash?
Trump: I don’t want to comment on that.
Q: Do you have a plan to go visit the site?
Trump: I have a plan to visit that, the site? Because, you tell me — What’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?
I mean, to be fair, yes. It is the considered position of the TFN editorial board that we very much want him to go swimming.
Trump did other stupid things yesterday that were somewhat more professional-appearing stupid. For one thing, he ordered the safety review that he didn’t order before the thing that the safety review is too late to prevent.
And look at what he ordered: A review of everything leading up to the crash not including him (italics added for emphasis of impunity):
“I am further ordering the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (Administrator) to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years … This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration.”
Trump’s been railing about diversity hiring for a year, at least. So why didn’t he order a safety review immediately, instead of after the horse had left the barn and crashed into the frozen Potomac?
And just so we’re clear on who’s leading this review, the Transportation secretary is former Real World star Sean Duffy. Astonishingly, Duffy is more qualified for this task — as someone at least nominally acquainted with the real world — than his partner, the FAA administrator, who’s not from the real world because they literally don’t exist yet.
That’s right, the FAA has no administrator.
Typically, FAA administrators are non-political appointees, because airplanes need right wings and left wings. But then Elon Musk disrupted.
The FAA had an FAA administrator the morning Trump re-became president. But not that afternoon! Michael Whitaker quit, despite the tradition of staying on for their full five-year terms. Whitaker’s only started a year ago. So why’d he quit?
Because Musk didn’t like getting fined by the FAA for doing his illegal shit, criticizing Whitaker specifically for fining SpaceX in an attempt to regulate it. Musk wrote in September that Whitaker “needs to resign” because he’s already regulated too much.
A few months later, a SpaceX rocket blew up. But Whitaker took the hint and quit. So now Trump’s safety review is being carried out by an alum of The Real World and someone who doesn’t exist in the real world.
As for Duffy, his performance yesterday included making sure people know that aircraft collisions are not standard. “I want to be clear on that.” Whew!
What Duffy wasn’t clear on was his unreal-world FAA administrator. When Duffy was asked by a reporter whether there was even an acting FAA administrator, the new Transportation secretary transportated himself away.
(Trump later named an acting FAA administrator. Who was Whitaker’s deputy.)
On the military side, some of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s masculine white Christian leaders are risking punishment for telling the New York Times they’re pissed that he and Trump are speculating it was the chopper’s fault.
Of course, being angry at Trump isn’t a federal offense. But you can be deported.
And military men (let’s be real) aren’t the only Trump loyalists likely questioning their loyalty today. Subtracting the Russians that the U.S. military just killed — even though Trump specifically said during the campaign that he didn’t want the U.S. military killing Russians — we still had mostly Americans on the flight from Wichita, KS.
Statistically speaking, given the massive Trump landslide3 on Election Day, that means most of the dead Americans were Trump supporters. Which means Trump is already killing his own voters much earlier than he did in his first term when his COVID denial took months to start killing his voters.
OF COURSE THE TIMES POOCHED THIS The news yesterday wasn’t that Trump blamed diversity and Biden for Wednesday’s plane crash. The news was that the president made shit up and admitted he was making it up while dead people were still beneath the ice.
In defense of the New York Times, they might assume their readers understand the baselessness of Trump’s base allegations. And so, in the Times’s mind, maybe that’s the point of this headline.
The reality is that presidents for now are still authority figures. So Trump’s unanswered allegation doesn’t belong in a headline the way the Times did this.
Build back better, New York Times.
The Call Is Coming from Inside the White House
Even Republicans are starting to balk at the rank incompetence oozing out of the Trump White House.
Remember, this is exactly what we all foresaw — well, we Newsfuckers foresaw! — that Pres.-elect Donald Trump’s decision to jettison minimally competent semi-fascists in favor of incompetent full-bore fascists would lead to worse outcomes — yes, first for us, but then for him.
Your TFN just didn’t think it would happen this fast.
But this week’s incredible issuance of an Office of Management and Budget (OMG) memo freezing grants and other funding throughout the entire federal government…followed by its equally incredible withdrawal just two days later…is providing some good insights on just how well Operation Trump Is President is going.
“Memos are supposed to offer guidance, and this was the opposite of guidance,” said one White House official — yes, a Trump White House official. In other words, Trump can’t guide anything, memos or planes.
The OMG memo was “poorly written” and “too vague, so it left everything up to interpretation,” the official told the Wall Street Journal on the condition of anonymity because he (let’s be real) was not authorized to speak for the White House and could now be executed for treason.
So, how did this happen? The OMG just…issued the memo on its own. Didn’t even check with Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whose portfolio explicitly includes both policy and evil. No White House process. No vetting even by Voldemort.
Trump literally assembled a team to work together — made up of people whose sole ethos is that they shouldn’t have to answer to anyone. There’s no “rump” in “Teamwork”!
And it’s not just semi-sane White House officials recognizing the problem here. Congressional Republicans are starting to balk, too.
“There’s real people that depend on these grants, and real people with real jobs, with missions,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told the Journal. “I hope it’s short lived.”
Bacon also served up a reminder that the frozen funding is already mandated by law: “Again, this stuff is appropriated by Congress. It’s already been signed.”
Climate Protesters Target Final DNC Debate
Like modern-day Cassandras, the only people in politics not gaslit into acting like climate change isn’t a problem anymore, actual goddam protesters just like the old days showed up at last night’s debate in the race to become chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Some of them were affiliated with the Sunrise Movement, and about 12 were forcibly removed from the debate instead of instantly declared the winner. Their messages included: “Stop taking oil money” and “Do you work for billionaires or for people like me?”
In the DNC’s defense, the party has already answered these questions.
The two alleged front-runners, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chair Ken Martin and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, both reportedly declined to raise their hands when the candidates were asked by MSNBC host and debate moderator Jen Psaki whether they’d support a ban on corporate political action committee (PAC) donations.
Martin said, “We will not take money from corporations that are polluting our planet. We will only take money from people who share our values,” apparently not aware that the reason for a ban is to prevent politicians from changing their values so they can take money.
Four Quickies
In a classic case of local-control-is-better-except-when-Republicans-don’t-like-it, Pres. Donald Trump is considering ordering an end to Manhattan’s controversial congestion-pricing plan, taxing cars in midtown and downtown. One problem: He can’t do that. Or probably can’t. Just don’t accept headlines about Trump saying he’s considering ending it. He’s considering trying. There’s a legal battle ahead if he does. Fun fact: The plan is working. Trip times through Manhattan’s busiest streets are now down on average anywhere from 10% to 30%, Gothamist reports.
The secretive, far-right-backed National Prayer Breakfast is next Thursday. As I’ve already reported, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) is co-chair. As I’ve also already reported, after the event pledged to separate from the secretive group that started it, the Fellowship Foundation, in 2023 The Fellowship donated $46,800. So, not separate. Well, I just obtained the invitation for the event, and I’ll be writing it up today over on the Jonathan Larsen Substack. Because the deadline for members of Congress to RSVP is today!
Pres. Donald Trump’s tariffs — or some of them? — are set to go into effect Saturday and collide headlong into the U.S. economy. Or he’ll change his flight plan at the last minute. Who the fuck knows. The point is that even the specter of wholesale tariffs makes it impossible for corporations to make long-term plans for supply chains. So, either way, Trump looks to be on course to crash the global economy into the Potomac.
The Trump administration is launching an investigation that will surely endear the president to parents around the country. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is “investigating” whether PBS and NPR violate federal law against TV ads by airing messages about their corporate sponsors. This is one of those weird boomerang issues, because, yeah, actually, I’d like to get corporate bullshit out of there. But that’s not really what the FCC is up to — this is a wedge to try to justify killing federal funding. Like, why do they need an investigation? We already know PBS and NPR do this! Just remember not to freak out. This is classic rake-setting. They’re laying a trap without realizing history shows they walk into it Every. Time. Remember how the Benghazi hearings worked out for them!
Recommended Reading
Veteran White House reporter Brian Karem has some thoughts on the Trump White House and its behind-the-scenes reshaping of the White House Press Corps. Spoiler: Donald Trump ain’t the only bad guy here.
TCB
CATCHING UP I’ve been cataloguing some of the first signs of spring — spring being the metaphor for the political collapse (already!) of Trump’s reign. So I hope to bring that to you soon. But also…
MORE EXCLUSIVES COMING I’ve got two pieces of original reporting coming on the family-friendly Jonathan Larsen Substack. The prayer breakfast one I mentioned and another one about (sorry) another Democrat. In addition to this one from Wednesday!
SUPPORTING TFN I’m in something of a race at the moment. Trying to get stories out before Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast. But also, with the collapse of legacy media, more of its veterans are setting up shop at Substack. For TFN to survive against their humongo brand names, TFN has to grow enough, quickly enough, to still stand out against all their star power. That means increasing the number of Newsfuckers — and I’m working on a strategy so you can share TFN more easily! But also it means building the ranks of paid subscribers.
If TFN is a balm for your sanity, and only if you can afford it, your donation or upgrade is essential for TFN to survive the Substack arms race against these big-name, corporate newcomers. Thank you.
CONNECTING We’re on Bluesky, Mastodon and Spoutible, at least until they turn evil, too!
Go get ‘em, kids. And give yourselves a good weekend!
I didn’t email it out because I worry about deluging you Newsfuckers!
Yes, it means speaking, too. That’s the second, less fun definition.
I know.
Controllers don't have "high turnover," they have a washout rate in training of more than 30 percent (despite it's hard to get in the program, with all the cognitive tests and psych evaluations). Somehow I passed all the tests, including the thinly disguised one to determine if you might be just a little bit psycho.
It's hard training for an almost impossibly hard job. Retirement is after 25 years of active duty. I made it three years, 1970-1973, and I was a high altitude controller: no prop planes and no helicopters. And back when I was an ATC you could retire after 20 years at 1/2 your best pay. I could have retired at age 42.
My impression fifty years ago was it's a job you are almost born to do and may not be able to do much else out in the "world." All these years since I've described the job as "a video game with real people." AFAIK all the guys I worked with got fired by Reagan in 1981.
I guess these are just little nits. Thanks for all your great thinking on this and other fucking news.
PS In the tv coverage of the air collision, the reporters and news commentators are so totally ignorant of anything ATC and of most things aviation, period. And the expert analysts tie themselves in knots using as many big words and phrases as they can think up to try to puff up their cred.
Between the two groups I can't stand to listen.
Remember how the Benghazi hearings worked out for them!
I mean...I don't remember four years of President Hillary so maybe it kinda did work out for them. "Flood the zone" bullshit does seem to have an effect.