Commentary
BUT FIRST, the selection of Sen. Adam Schiff to receive the well-earned “honor” of being my February 1 Fool’s Day winner. How ironic, Schiff, who was never ordered to turn over the conclusive evidence he claimed to have against Trump’s collusion with Russia while going after Trump in 2016 as a member of the House, is now a Senator going after Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to head the FBI.
One of the talking heads on TV casually mentioned that members of the Senate will soon tire of his showboating. I doubt it. There are a dozen other Democrats who have made this so-called august body a laughingstock. Namely, Senators Hirono, Baldwin and Warren. It explains why Congress’s approval rating was at 17 percent in November.
Trump’s First Two Weeks
I’ve stopped counting the Executive Orders and memorandums President Trump signed on Day One and since then, but I’m reminded of his campaign suggestion that we’re going to get tired of winning.
His immediate action to secure the border and send ICE agents to round up the worst of the worst illegal immigrants in Chicago, New York and Denver for deportation was on his first day “to do” list received perhaps the most news coverage.
While 57 percent of likely voters approve of the raids, amazingly 39 percent disapprove, with 24 percent “strongly” disapproving. They’re no doubt the same people who thought the Biden administration was on the right track.
NGO’s A No Go
Trump is sure to cut off the taxpayer funds being paid to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for the settlement of unaccompanied minor migrants who have illegally entered the United States. Most of the NGOs are operated by churches as non-profits, but a recent investigative report revealed that three CEOs were being paid $500,000 and another at $1 million.
A division of the Department of Health & Human Services, the nicely named Administration for Children and Families, has been funding the NGOs through its Office of Refugee Resettlement. Its budget has swelled from $1.8 billion in 2018 to $6.3 billion in 2023, with a projection of $7.3 billion in 2024.
This, and other government grant money, needs to be reviewed for waste and abuse by DOGE.
DEI is DEAD
While DEI offices were established in all Cabinet-ranked departments as part of Biden’s all of government approach, closing the DEI offices in the Pentagon was highlighted because of then nominee SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth’s view that it was woke experimenting with warfighters.
The transparency Trump promised was evidenced following the accidental collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter with an American Eagle commercial airliner on approach to Reagen International Airport while over the Potomac River. Hegseth, in shirt sleeves, wasted no time to acknowledge the accident, promising a full investigation. Early the next morning, Trump appeared in the White Office press room with Hegseth and newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to comment and take questions.
With my 32 years of aviation industry experience, I can tell you that the FAA was often the center of attention as we worked through the certification of our avionics systems. Over the years, I believe our engineers developed reasonable working relationships with those whose job it was to thoroughly check out our systems before certification for use by the airlines.
Those who manned the control towers were only involved when we were doing flight testing at a particular airport. Having been on board a company jet during a few flight test approaches, and during cross-country flights, I was always amazed to hear the dialogue between our pilots and the FAA controllers. Occasionally there was a bit of banter between the two, but always professional.
With that, I recall reviewing the requirements to be an air traffic controller at the time of the 2023 hearing of Phil Washington, nominated by President Biden to serve as administrator of the FAA. He admitted he could not answer questions that seemed to me were basic, like “what airspace requires an ADS-B transponder, “what are the three aircraft certifications the FAA requires as part of the manufacturing process,” and “can you tell me what the minimum separation distance is for landing and departing airliners during daytime?” Washington was forced to withdraw from consideration.
Reviewing the minimum requirements for controller positions, I was struck that applicants need not have flying experience. It appears that Trump is already taking a close look at the FAA.
Perhaps those critical of President Trump’s suggestion that DEI may be responsible for the helicopter-airliner collision are not aware that the FAA is fighting a class-action lawsuit alleging it denied 1,000 would-be air traffic controllers jobs because of diversity targets. It has been alleged that the tower at Reagan is undermanned.
FINALLY, THERE’S THIS – After spending a few days in Washington, speaking with Republicans and Democrats, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wrote about changes she experienced.
A GOP senator who supports the president told her, “He doesn’t do anything to make it easy.” She notes that Trump 2.0 isn’t better, “they have to get used to the chaos again and ride it.”
However, she observed that “No modern president has achieved this level of complete cultural saturation. It gives him power in this ill-educated, broken-up, low-attention-span country.
“Mr. Trump has pierced American consciousness in this way. He has broken through as an instantly recognizable, memorable, cartoonable figure,” who she claims is known by 100 percent of Americans, recalling the days on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show days when someone on the street didn’t know who Abe Lincoln was.
ANOTHER OBSERVATION – You may have missed it. During a roundtable taking place when Trump went to see the fire damage in California, he scolded LA Mayor Karen Bass for her “next week” promise, arguing that homeowners should be able to go to their home sites today, not next week. It’s an example of the disrupter-in-chief’s “now” attitude for action.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
