The Trump administration has been compared to an episode of Seinfeld in the mainstream media today. The episode: Cosmo Kramer took his golf caddy to court as a jury consultant.
The comparison is being made since Trump is recommending his personal pilot to run the Federal Aviation Administration, with its more than $16 billion budget, 47,000+ employees, and responsibility for regulation and oversight of all civil aviation in the United States.
A senior administration official told Axios on Sunday that:
“He’s on the list because he’s the president’s pilot, but if he gets the job it won’t be because he’s the president’s pilot.”
Trump seems to have picked his personal pilot, John Duncan in part because of what he said when he and Trump found themselves experiencing flight delays, stuck on the tarmac. Duncan said:
“None of this would happen if a pilot ran the FAA.”
The pilot flew Trump around on “Trump Force One” during the presidential campaign, and worked for Trump since 1989 when Trump launched his own airline, which soon came to a metaphorical crash landing: Trump Shuttle.
Turns out, America can learn a lot from the metaphor of Trump Shuttle.
Trump referred to the Trump Shuttle as “truly great transportation whatever,” and a “diamond in the sky,” but gave up control two and a half years after he purchased the airline in order to “get out from a pile of debt.”
Interestingly, Trump Shuttle could teach Republicans a lot about Trump’s tax plan, if they cared to learn from history, that is. Trump’s tax plan is set to balloon the national debt to $1 trillion, under the belief that corporations would help pay it back through mythical and already disproven trickle-down economics.
From The Boston Globe:
“The Trump Shuttle was successful enough to cover operating costs but not enough to pay down the debt.
It fit a pattern for Trump: making a bet that his product would be so successful that he could pay down massive debt and earn a hefty profit along the way. It was the model he attempted in Atlantic City, and the one he was also trying to execute with the Plaza Hotel.”
Other candidates for the Federal Aviation Administration include Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri and the current acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell.
Interestingly, Representative Graves gushed about Trump’s tax plan on Twitter. That might make him more qualified in Trump’s eyes.
Thanks to @POTUS for bringing a clear vision for tax reform & prosperity to Missouri. He's absolutely right. The time for #TaxReform is now
— Rep. Sam Graves (@RepSamGraves) August 30, 2017
However, it would be extremely hard to compete with Elwell’s background unless he happened to be Trump’s personal pilot.
- He served at the FAA as the Assistant Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Environment from 2006-2008.
- He was Senior Advisor on Aviation to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao.
- He was Senior Vice President for Safety, Security, and Operations at Airlines for America from 2013-2015.
- He was Vice President of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) from 2008-2013.
But that’s not all:
If Trump claims Duncan is better suited as a former pilot, Elwell was a commercial pilot for 16 years with American Airlines.
America is Trump Shuttle and we all desperately need a qualified pilot these days, preferably one that isn’t Trump’s personal staff.
Here is Dan Elwell in a video talking about drone safety:
Hear from #FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell about the importance of #drone #safety in the NAS and the FAA’s presence at #CES2018 before he departs this afternoon. Thanks @CES for a great event! pic.twitter.com/zzXV7iSbe3
— The FAA (@FAANews) January 11, 2018
If Trump’s previous administration appointments are any indication, Elwell’s impressive qualifications will be dismissed for anecdotal evidence that his pilot pal is the best man ever for the job.
If you’re curious, here’s the Seinfeld moment. Listening to the caddy ends up losing Kramer the trial:
See more in the video below:
Featured image: Screenshot via YouTube video.
