Aviation safety meets political brinkmanship in the form of an erratic social media post by President Donald Trump on air traffic controllers.
“Get Back to Work, NOW!” Trump Orders Unpaid Air Traffic Controllers Back To Work, Dangles $10K Bonus For “Patriots”
As the U.S. government shutdown drags on, air traffic controllers (ATCs) have continued working without pay, a reality that has already triggered staffing shortages and forced airlines and the FAA to throttle flights at major airports.
President Donald Trump weighed in this weekend with a message that combined encouragement, threat, and incentive. In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump demanded controllers return to work immediately and warned those who do not would be “substantially docked” while praising those still reporting for duty as “patriots” who could earn a $10,000 bonus:
“All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn’t will be substantially “docked.” For those Air Traffic Controllers who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the “Democrat Shutdown Hoax,” I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country. For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU. You didn’t step up to help the U.S.A. against the FAKE DEMOCRAT ATTACK that was only meant to hurt our Country. You will have a negative mark, at least in my mind, against your record. If you want to leave service in the near future, please do not hesitate to do so, with NO payment or severance of any kind! You will be quickly replaced by true Patriots, who will do a better job on the Brand New State of the Art Equipment, the best in the World, that we are in the process of ordering. The last “Administration” wasted Billions of Dollars trying to fix antiquated “junk.” They had no idea what they were doing! Again, to our great American Patriots, GOD BLESS YOU – I won’t be able to send your money fast enough! To all others, REPORT TO WORK IMMEDIATELY. GOD BLESS AMERICA! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”
I don’t know who writes these, but it sounds just like Trump!
Trump cautioned that controllers who “did nothing but complain” would receive negative marks, adding that those who wish to leave should do so “with NO payment or severance of any kind.”
That prompted a harsh rebuke from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg:
ATC Staffing Is Already Cracking
This isn’t theoretical labor tension. The system is already strained. The FAA has deployed flow control measures at airports including New York LaGuardia and Newark Liberty, citing staffing issues directly tied to the shutdown. Airlines have been forced to reduce schedules not because of weather or demand, but because there simply aren’t enough controllers to safely manage traffic.
While ATCs are legally required to work during shutdowns, rising sick calls and resignations have created a feedback loop: fewer controllers mean heavier workloads, which means more fatigue, more stress, and ultimately, more likelihood of errors or operational restrictions.
Aviation Safety, Political Theater, Or Both?
Presidents publicly pressuring unpaid front-line aviation workers is unusual, though not unprecedented. What is unusual is the structure: reward those who continue working without complaint, punish those who don’t, and publicly tie compensation to patriotism…?
Whether $10,000 would even clear legal hurdles is unlikely, but the rhetoric amplifies an uncomfortable reality: the nation’s air traffic system is falling apart. And unlike airlines that can reduce schedules when stressed, ATCs don’t have that luxury. Their job isn’t customer comfort, it’s collision avoidance…
I just don’t know what else to say concerning the President’s statement.
CONCLUSION
Air traffic control is not an optional service, nor is it a political thought experiment. Without functioning ATC staffing, nothing else in commercial aviation works. Airlines can swap crews, rebook passengers, and trim schedules, but controllers cannot “scale down” safety.
Whether Trump’s message motivates, irritates, or divides, one truth remains: the U.S. aviation system is highly dependent on a workforce currently being asked to do one of the most demanding jobs in the country, indefinitely, without pay. That is not a stable foundation for the world’s busiest airspace and why I welcome an immediate end to this shutdown. Enough is enough. Must a plane crash before the adults come to the table and compromise?
image: White House
Oh blah blah blah, orange man bad, if only we had prime time DEI hire and notorious pole smoker Pete Ballfondler in office then everything would be super duper.
I am getting bored with this blog.
Planes literally started falling out of the sky as soon as this admin took over I’ll take all the ballfondlers we can get at this point.
Well said, Winston. Ballfondlers are awesome.
I bet you would.
Chi, don’t neglect the balls!
Sch*tt: re “I am getting bored with this blog”, good, now go away, good riddance alpha hotel, hope the door slams on your miniscule racist brain on your are way out, maybe with all your new free time you can get the help you so obviously and desperately need.
You did see that the Senate moved ahead with a vote on a spending bill to end the shutdown after 8 Dems crossed over?
Yes, Pete. We saw the ‘Hateful Eight’ betray their party and the 20 million Americans who will lose their healthcare. Appeasement never works. The CR they agreed to only goes to January 2026, so while workers will get paid (good), the underlying issues remain (healthcare, affordability, etc.), and the administration is doing nothing to address any of it.
I mean it’s definitely a betrayal of the Americans who stand to see their medical costs skyrocket when the subsidies expire. On the other hand, Trump and his goon Russell Vought made it clear there was no end in sight to the cruelty they were willing to unnecessarily inflict on Americans if this shutdown didn’t end and Republicans in Congress weren’t going to give up the legislative filibuster anytime soon (it asymmetrically benefits them over Democrats when they are in the minority). I certainly wouldn’t have supported it.
On the other hand, the cynical side in me says fine let the GOP let the ACA subsidies expire. Unlike a lot of the worst aspects of the OBBB which don’t kick in until 2029 or later, letting the ACA subsidies expire will inflict real pain on many Americans now. So let’s see how the GOP fares in 2026 when the economy is in worse shape and the GOP has no one else to blame for skyrocketing health care costs for millions of Americans.
I recognize I am privileged enough to ride the expiring ACA subsidies out, but I’m not convinced the GOP or Trump was or will going to do anything to fix that anyways and in the meantime those who rely on the federal government for their jobs or SNAP benefits were going to needlessly suffer.
Agreed.
Long-time Democrats are fed-up with corporate shills, quiet-mercenaries-for-billionaires, Republican-lite… what Trump did to the GOP is about to happen with us. This is why Mamdani’s win scared so many in the establishment; he rejected the status quo, is not going to engage in appeasement, will fight back for the people, try new things, and do it all with a smile. We need more of that; and there’s plenty of people like him everywhere who need to wake up, stand up, and get to work. Otherwise, fascism is here, and it’s going to consume us. Can’t let that happen, friends. The world is counting on us to finally ‘do something.’ All we can do is try. Hope is alive.
Hahaha. “Patriots” are going to be manning ATC towers. What could go wrong?
Welp, as long as nothing important deflates…
Oh wait. We will need more pardons!
Oh, so crony-capitalism and the spoils system. This ends poorly for nearly all of us.
Just pay the workers. Enough of these abuses of power.
“All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!!
“Sir, this is a Burger King”.
Let’s be real: He’s way more of a McDonalds guy. C’mon cholesterol!
Yeah. He’s got a borderline personality disorder. Frequent uncontrolled emotional outbursts, fear of abandonment, blames others for his failures. No wonder he’s had six bankruptcies from his companies. No doubt he was trying to imitate Ronald Reagan ( the tough approach without the knowledge, charisma and being able to use skilled advisors ). He doesn’t inspire anyone.
Hey Matt, didn’t your boy Ronnie put the ATC’s in their place too in the 80’s?
Different situation, but yes…they deserved to be fired then.
I hope the ones that are able to just retire and put out a message that they left because of Trumps bullying. When the entire system cracks and mass cancellations happen, they can just say “We left like Trump demanded and now he can figure out what to do since he’s so smart.”
Well said, Dan.
With bullies, you gotta call their bluff. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. Trump is a classic bully. He has no real plan. ‘Just two more weeks!’ His only plan is to grift as much as possible, since all of this was meant for his own personal enrichment and to keep him out of prison the second time.
(Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025, clearly have plans; Russ Vought, a libertarian austerity hawk, implements those plans, for the benefit of billionaires, and the detriment of nearly all of us; Stephen Miller, a Jewish white supremacist, make-that-make-sense, has plans, to scapegoat and harm the vulnerable, for the sick pleasure of bigots who think they’re the in-group, for now.)
We gotta overcome all of this, together. Appeasement never works. We need new leaders, especially in the Democratic Party, because so far, Chuck has failed. Weak. Feckless. Pathetic. No fight. No energy. Loser. We should honestly have a new Senator for NY. That’d be a good start. Don’t wait until his term is up either. No time to waste. Get AOC to fill-in.