Thread by @atgarland

The clock is ticking on the final 24 hours of the Trump presidency. Let's take a minute to acknowledge how the inexperience and chaos of his administration directly affected aviation. 1/x

Trump's first major act was the first Muslim Ban enacted on a Friday(!) night, Jan. 27. Passengers took off with one immigration status and upon landing had another. This led to massive confusion at CBP & prompted airport protests across the U.S. 2/x vox.com/2017/1/28/1442…

This was the first time aviation had to deal with the fallout of an ill-conceived, in this case illegal, Trump Admin policy. It wouldn't be the last. Some "highlights" of the cluster the following 4 years would prove to be. 3/x

In June 2018, Trump's family separation policy intersected with commercial aviation when ICE/DHS bought tix on our planes. "Some are struggling with..participating in a process that they feel is deeply immoral." Airlines asked the admin to stop 4/x
afacwa.org/separated_fami…

35 Day Government Shutdown 2018/2019. It was a safety & security threat to the aviation industry. @FlyingWithSara called on the labor movement to talk about a #GeneralStrike. 10 ATCs who felt they could not safely perform their duties called in sick 5/x afacwa.org/air_traffic_co…

"The absence of those few workers – 6 in northern Virginia and 4 in Florida – temporarily shut down travel at New York’s LGA airport and caused delays at other major hubs, including in EWR, PHL & ATL."

A couple hours later Congress reached a deal. 6/x cnn.com/2019/02/06/pol…

After the crash of Ethiopian Flight 302 in March 2019, the U.S. was the last major country to ground the #737MAX. The president announced it instead of the FAA, adding further concern over what should have been a safety decision. MAX planes were still in the air at the time. 7/x

The entire MAX crisis damaged our international aviation safety reputation. "Lives must come first always. But a brand is at stake as well. And that brand is not just Boeing. It's America." 8/x afacwa.org/flight_attenda…

In March 2019, an AFA Mesa Airlines Flight Attendant Selene Saavedra Roman was detained while working as a certified flight attendant and held for 6 weeks in ICE detention, due to Trump Admin's DACA policies. 9/x thepointsguy.com/news/mesa-airl…

And COVID, where to begin?! The admin essentially did nothing from the start. The first COVID aviation action: Trump suspended entry of nearly all non-U.S. citizens who had been in China within the last 14 days.

In reality, most travel had already stopped. 10/x

On February 4, 2020 @afa_cwa and @AFTunion, representing Flight Attendants, Nurses and Teachers, called on the U.S. government for a coordinated response on February 4, 2020.

Narrator: there would barely be a response a year later. 11/x cnn.com/2020/02/04/pol…

The March 11, 2020 9pm "Europe Travel Ban" announcement left the industry & reporters wondering what the hell was going on since Trump said the wrong thing on national TV. It led to a mad dash to the airport, confusion on planes & CBP lines. 12/x usatoday.com/story/travel/n…

After PSP passed in the CARES Act, Mnuchin's Treasury fumbled the rollout from the agreements, to delays in getting the money out the door, to inaction on certain applications like Miami Air 13/x businessinsider.com/miami-air-inte…

On April 23, 2020, our union officially called on DOT/HHS to mandate masks on planes. Instead, Trump made masks a political issue which has caused issues for Flight Attendants charged with enforcing airline policies on masks. And further threatening our industry's recovery. 14/x

DOT finally released the "Runway to Recovery" almost 5 months into the pandemic. It offered only recommendations, not requirements, and has no enforcement component. 15/x washingtonpost.com/local/traffica…

Trump blew up #ReliefNow negotiations too many times to count leaving nearly 100,000 aviation workers without a paycheck starting Oct. 1 without an extension to PSP 16/x afacwa.org/trump_kills_mi…

The Christmas delay in signing the emergency #ReliefNow COVID bill cost us precious days in calling aviation workers back to work. 17/x

And the Jan. 6th insurrection which has since spilled onto our planes and in airports. "The new security challenge often comes on top of flight attendants’ daily battles to ensure that passengers wear masks to limit the spread of the coronavirus." 18/x washingtonpost.com/local/traffica…

And last night for the cherry on top 19/x

https://twitter.com/samjmintz/status/1351327778080219138

Suffice to say we're all tired. Looking forward to the @PresElectBiden Administration, a proactive approach to COVID and other issues in aviation combined with stakeholder involvement and comprehensive policy rollouts! 20/20

P.S. I'm sure I missed a few things. It's been a long 4 years!