Hundreds of thousands of travelers have much grave concerns resulting from the Toddler-in-Chief refusing to budge over wall funding. TSA employees are working without pay, and an increasing number of them are calling out sick — some because they refuse to work for free, and others because they cannot afford to work for free. They are being forced to make money in other ways so they can afford to pay their rent, daycare bills, electricity - all so that The Orange Sh*tstain can make sure Ann Coulter doesn't say mean things about him. Not only does this put them at risk, it endangers the traveling public as well.
This includes, on the travel industry front lines, airline employees. The president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) has had about enough of it. So much so that he took the extremely unusual step of telling the Bloated Manbaby —in writing — to cut his sh*t out, like, immediately if not sooner. In his letter, Captain Joe DePete wrote:
I am writing to urge you to take the necessary steps to immediately end the shutdown of government agencies that is adversely affecting the safety, security and efficiency of our national airspace system.
According to the Inc. article about this noteworthy communication, Capt. DePete recognized the need to actually explain to the "president" of the United States how the Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security works in relation to the airline industry. He did not sound happy about it, either. From the article:
DePete explained that the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security operate as both regulators and service providers.
Mechanical inspections, drone oversight and new enhanced communications systems are all threatened.
Worse, air traffic controllers, airspace system maintenance personnel and air marshals are working unpaid.
Remember how Trumpy Bear shut down the government having no idea at all which agencies would be affected? Remember his officials not realizing that SNAP payments wouldn't be made, and other entirely predictable but thoroughly despicable Republican bullsh*t? Well, Captain Joe DePete apparently also needs to take time out to explain safety things to this absurd and disgraceful administration, like he did above. I'm sure he tried to use small words, and it's a shame he couldn't include drawings, but who knows if it will ever even get read by the intended audience?
Captain DePete ended his letter with the devastating reality facing his pilots and other co-workers in the airline industry:
Finally, at both the FAA and at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the air traffic controllers, airspace system maintenance personnel, and the airline passenger security workforce are being asked to work unpaid. They are dutifully providing safety of life services while facing increasingly difficult financial pressures to provide for those dependent on their paycheck. The pressure these civil servants are facing at home should not be ignored. At some point, these dedicated federal employees will encounter personal financial damages that will take a long time from which to recover, if at all.
Based on the impacts to the aviation industry including the ALPA membership, we urge you to take the necessary steps to immediately end the shutdown of government agencies that is affecting the safety, security and efficiency of our national airspace system.
As Chris Matyszczyk, author of the Inc. piece pointed out, Capt. DePete notably addressed and sent his letter to Donald Trump. He did cc Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell and McCarthy, but by making the addressee the vile inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he is making no secret of whom he's holding responsible for this manufactured travesty.
