Throughout 2023 and 2024, one of the major themes that I kept emphasizing was that a major disaster involving a commercial airliner was extremely likely to occur in the near future. There were simply too many close calls in the skies, happening far too often — particularly close to the ground — to come to any other conclusion.

Many of these mistakes were the result of failures by air traffic control and the FAA, which openly began discriminating against qualified white applicants during the Obama years. So when 2025 began with a low-altitude, mid-air collision at Washington’s Reagan airport, it wasn’t exactly a surprising development. The signs were all there. Everyone who was paying attention knew that a disaster like this would happen. And then it did.

One of the many lessons that we should draw from that mid-air collision is that, when a pending catastrophe seems obvious to you — even if you’re not an “expert” in the field — you should draw attention to it. There’s a very good chance you’re right, and the experts are wrong, particularly if those experts are politically motivated. When I did my monologues on the air traffic control system a couple of years ago, plenty of Leftists mocked me for doing so. They said I had no idea what I was talking about. And now we see how that turned out.

So today, we’re going to talk at length about a new threat that poses a significant danger to every American who travels on a plane in this country — up to, and including, the president of the United States. This is a threat that, as far as I can tell, no mainstream news outlet or commentator has mentioned. But it’s urgent. And federal action must be taken immediately.

I’m talking about the very uncomfortable, but also very apparent fact that there are quite a few unhinged Leftist air traffic controllers in this country — many of whom have spent the last year or so posting on social media about their plans to sabotage the aviation industry and the United States at large. Several of these individuals are deranged, entitled and, by their own admission, dangerous. And they need to be dealt with.

Before we get into the specific examples, I want to briefly go back to the mid-air collision over the Potomac in January. There were many factors that contributed to this disaster, including poor flying by the Black Hawk pilot. But if you ask the White House — and if you listen to the audio transcripts between air traffic control and the two aircraft involved in the incident — it’s clear that air traffic control was not entirely blameless.

This is the first significant interaction between the controller and the military helicopter that would later crash into the passenger plane. 

Watch:

This is a useful instruction. The controller is telling the pilot of the Black Hawk that a CRJ aircraft (the passenger plane) is “just south of the Woodrow Bridge,” and he gives its current altitude and some information about its approach. And the Black Hawk pilot acknowledges the information, saying they’ll steer clear of the CRJ.

But the controller doesn’t seem to notice that the Black Hawk, over the next 30 seconds, does not in fact steer clear of the airliner. Instead, the two aircraft are on a collision course. It’s not until an automated alarm sounds in the control tower, warning of an imminent collision, that the controller notices the issue.

Listen to what he says, at that moment:

This time around, at a critical moment, the controller does not tell the Black Hawk helicopter where the CRJ is, or what its altitude is. He doesn’t say “Avoid the CRJ at 10 o’clock, at your same altitude,” or anything like that. Instead, he simply tells the Black Hawk pilot to avoid “the CRJ.” 

And it appears that, in response to that vague instruction, the Black Hawk pilots scanned the skies for a CRJ — and identified the wrong CRJ, in the crowded airspace. They were avoiding the wrong plane. This was obviously a critical mistake — one that the controller shares responsibility for. (Although, to be fair, a small portion of the ATC’s command wasn’t audible in the Black Hawk, because the Black Hawk keyed their radio at the same time.) 

After the crash, it emerged that Washington’s Reagan airport normally has a dedicated controller who focuses solely on helicopters. But at this particular moment, one controller was doing double-duty — handling fixed-wing planes, in addition to helicopters. In an interview with federal investigators, the controller stated, “There was one point that I thought about asking for [backup], but it was—as soon as I was thinking about it, you know, I got rid of a few helicopters … So it was a little complex, but it was manageable for me.”

I’m beginning with the crash above the Potomac because it illustrates a couple of facts that are very important to keep in mind. First of all, air traffic controllers are apparently capable of an extraordinary degree of self-deception. After all, when you allow two aircraft to fly into one another, by definition, the situation was not “manageable.” But more importantly, the crash illustrates that air traffic controllers have a very important job. Even with all the automation we have, they are a critical line of defense against aviation disasters. Therefore, they should behave professionally, even when they’re off the clock. You shouldn’t have to worry that these people are insane, or sociopathic. You’re paying their salary. You put your life in their hands. And in return, at a minimum, they should demonstrate that they’re not crazy.

But many air traffic controllers are instead demonstrating — particularly on Reddit, one of the largest social media platforms in the world — that, alas, they do not clear this very low bar. So let’s back up a second. On Reddit, which is especially popular with Leftists, you’ll find plenty of forums where employees of various organizations — from Panera Bread to Walmart — talk shop about their experiences on the job. And very often, as you might imagine, the posts are extremely negative. People are airing out their grievances, and making all kinds of highly inflammatory statements. Sometimes the posts are threatening, or reveal signs of obvious mental illness. And all things considered, that’s probably fine when you’re talking about the guy who’s making your sandwich, or boxing up your flat-screen TV, or whatever. 

But it’s not so fine when you’re talking about someone who has the capacity to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of passengers in a matter of seconds. Air traffic controllers, unlike the delivery guy at Jimmy John’s, can direct two planes to collide, if they want to, or if they aren’t competent enough to avoid doing so. They can order planes to perform unnecessary maneuvers that put passengers in danger. And they can certainly cause all kinds of major inconveniences that cause problems for the millions of people who populate airports and airplanes every day across the country. And if something like that does happen, it can be very difficult to prove that the controller did it on purpose. He has plausible deniability. He can claim he made a “mistake.” This is the power that air traffic controllers have. Therefore, they need to be vetted. And they need to be sane. There can’t be any question about it.

And yet, if you look at various subreddits that are frequented by air traffic controllers, you’ll find that we have a very big problem in this regard. There are a slew of posts, all of which are very easy to find, in which air traffic controllers demonstrate that they’re unfit for the job. I’ll give just a few random examples. You can go and find many more yourself. To be clear, most of these posts received support from the community, so we’re not just talking about one or two random trolls. We’re talking about dedicated communities for this profession, where they’re openly talking about committing acts of sabotage on the job. They’re also, in general — at least on these forums — very unhappy people who are extremely bitter about the Trump administration, to a degree that’s pathological.

We’ll start with these comments, from the ATC subreddit. These are in response to a post from Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, where Trump used a meme to mock government workers for being lazy.

For the record, here’s the meme:

As you can see, it shows SpongeBob with a list of things he “got done last week.” And the list includes “cried about Trump” and “made it into the office for once.” And needless to say, the air traffic controllers didn’t find this meme to be especially amusing.

So here’s what they wrote.

Credit: Reddit.com

Give the private jets a few extra circles before landing.

That post has more than 100 upvotes. Then the reply comes: “Air Force 1, go around, fly runway heading.” And then someone replies, “Wouldn’t it be great if the president’s pilot took one for the team.”

Someone then replies that, no, it wouldn’t be good if the president’s pilot crashed Air Force One, or if air traffic controllers intentionally gave bad instructions to Air Force One. And that person’s post was downvoted by the community, to the point that it became invisible.

So to restate: in response to a meme where Trump implied that air traffic controllers are lazy, the air traffic control subreddit responded by saying that air traffic controllers should give bad instructions to Air Force One. And then, for good measure, the air traffic control subreddit endorsed a post in which someone suggests killing the president while he’s on board. That one comment alone is enough to make the point. I could stop right here. It’s easy enough to say, “hey, it’s the internet, it’s not real life.” But this is real life. A real human being suggested that Air Force one should be crashed intentionally to kill the president, and real human beings reached approvingly to that statement. And those human beings are in air traffic control towers right now, as we speak, directing air traffic. That’s a problem. A big one.

And this was not a one-off. This is an entire genre on this subreddit, and related subreddits.

Here’s another post, from just three weeks ago.

Credit: Reddit.com

So could you guys just, like, let Air Force One sit in a 3 hour taxi line?

That was posted in response to Trump saying that air traffic controllers should get back to work during the government shutdown. Because Trump dared to suggest that they shouldn’t call out “sick,” they’re threatening retaliation against Air Force One.

And here’s one more. This was in response to a post complaining about Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary.

Credit: Reddit.com

Whenever he flies, just delay his take-offs and landings. Easy peasy. Ask him about the Congress members on vacation right now while he’s in the air. When he answers correctly you allow his plane to land.

These are just a few examples of threats directed at the president and members of his Cabinet — all of which were highly upvoted by the air traffic control subreddit, meaning they reflect a common sentiment in the community.

But there are many more concerning posts, which suggest that the broader traveling public is also in danger.

Here’s one of them. This was posted just a few days ago.

Credit; Reddit.com

It reads:

If a candidate starts talking about healing, or letting [Trump administration officials] go, I’m intentionally voting to KEEP this administration in office to speedrun the whole collapse. … I cannot abide NOT arresting and punishing these corrupt f*** to the maximum extent of the law. I would rather they just destroy everything than see these dorks walk away scot free for the 15th time in a row. … Seeing Leavitt, Noem, Hegseth, all of these people do perp walks? That’s the real healing this country needs.

Again, this is a popular post in the online community of air traffic controllers. You have someone who’s clearly out of his mind, talking about “speedrunning the collapse” of the country. He would rather “destroy everything,” in his words, than live in a world where Donald Trump and his Cabinet aren’t sent to prison. 

Of course, if this guy had said he voted for Donald Trump, his comment would be downvoted into oblivion, if not censored entirely. But because he’s talking about destroying the United States, he gets the exact opposite response among air traffic controllers. He gets upvotes. And no moderator bans him, or removes the post. This is what they all believe. These are people who shouldn’t be allowed to make a sandwich. But they’re directing planes full of innocent passengers, every day.

Before we go into more of these posts, I should clarify why these people claim to be upset. Obviously, they’re deranged and their posts are incoherent, so there’s no logic here. There was no universe in which they’d support Donald Trump, or accept the fact that he’s the president, without frothing at the mouth. But if you ask them, one of their biggest “grievances” is that the Trump administration just gave $10,000 to every controller who didn’t take a single day off during the government shutdown. But in the end, only a few hundred controllers received the bonus, because the vast majority of air traffic controllers took pre-planned leave, or a sick day, or something like that.

Now, if these government employees were well-adjusted individuals, instead of extremely unpleasant and entitled lunatics with the emotional maturity of small children, this wouldn’t bother them in the slightest. The handout is a bonus. It’s compensation that they had no reason to expect in the first place. It’s a “thank you” to the rare government employees who managed to go a month — yes, an entire month — without pretending to be sick, or taking vacation. In the government world, that’s an extraordinary achievement — one that’s almost unheard of.

But air traffic controllers aren’t willing to let this go. They’re demanding that everyone gets the $10,000 bonus. And on top of that, like angsty teenagers, they’re also vowing to get their revenge on the administration — and on the traveling public.

For example, here’s one post about a plan to berate Sean Duffy:

Credit: Reddit.com

How much trouble would I get in if I saw Duffy on official time, And I told him f*** you we all hate you.

This post also has dozens and dozens of upvotes. But the funny thing is, if you read all the replies, everyone is basically saying, “go for it, you won’t suffer any consequences whatsoever.”

Here’s one post, to give you an idea:

Credit: Reddit.com

At [Jacksonville air traffic control], they’ll pick good staffing days to put you on suspension, but then you’ll work overtime and basically get more than your original salary anyways…. One controller got a week on the beach for talking [trash] to pilots while another got a week on the beach for … stealing thousands in [overtime] before caught. We live in a clown world.

In other words, you can behave extremely unprofessionally, as a controller, and actually come out ahead of where you were before. You can harass your boss in public, and you’ll suffer no consequences whatsoever. This is the culture among government employees who direct planes for a living. They openly celebrate the most adolescent, inane behavior imaginable. And they do it because they know they’ll get away with it.

So they’re taking full advantage of the opportunity. After all, when you have adolescent, inane people in important jobs, they can’t resist punishing innocent people, as a way of satisfying their narcissism. That’s why, at the moment, some of the most popular posts on this subreddit involve threats of walking off the job in January, when the next government funding bill is going to be debated.

Here’s one of those posts: “I’m not feeling so well in January.”

This was in response to a melodramatic post accusing the Trump administration of a “$10,000 Betrayal.”

So here’s a government worker announcing that he’s going to take fraudulent sick days — defrauding the taxpayer and potentially endangering the public — because he didn’t get an extra $10,000 check that he was never entitled to receive in the first place. There are about a thousand posts like this.

Here’s another post with nearly 100 upvotes, in which a controller responds to a post by Trump on Truth Social by saying he’s going to take more sick days to infuriate Trump.

Credit: Reddit.com

“If I knew I was personally in the thoughts of that dipsh** I would have banged more,” meaning, more sick days.

Then there’s this very popular post from a couple of weeks ago. It’s in response to the news that an air traffic controller had recently committed suicide.

Credit: Reddit.com

Between the shut down, snap and firing the feds Trump has killed a lot of Americans.

And one of the most popular responses to that post was this: 

Trump killed a quarter of a million during COVID too.

To put this in context, remember when we learned that FBI agents were texting one another about how to “stop” Donald Trump from winning the 2016 election? They were doing that in private, because they knew it’d be a national scandal if anyone found out about it. And then, indeed, when people did find out, the agents were terminated. Congress held hearings.

Ultimately, the FBI was gutted from the top down.

That’s what needs to happen to air traffic control in this country. Gut it. Privatize it. Bring in some accountability. Hire people who aren’t deranged. Anything would be an improvement over the current arrangement.

And we have to act quickly here. If you look deeper into this forum, you’ll find that, in various posts, certain agitators appear to be encouraging posters to take more drastic action.

You guys complaining about pay on reddit but not actually doing anything is like:
byu/You_an_idiot_brah inATC

Credit: Reddit.com

Here’s one example.

There is a difference in staying silent and doing something. The fact you think you — and most people here — are doing something more than commenting and hoping it will change is what is most bothersome. It’s like Paul Revere yelling from the window without the midnight ride. … Look at history, see what actions have actually caused change and there’s your blueprint. I think it’s pretty black and white. Why you guys are trying to reinvent the wheel, I’ll never understand.

In a separate post, this same person writes:

Credit: Reddit.com

The fact that you think a strike is the only way to get what you want just proves that you won’t ever get anything.

Then, when someone points out that he’s being conspicuously vague about his proposed “solution,” he responds with this. 

Credit: Reddit.com

There’s nothing vague about it. Your inability to comprehend the issue and subsequently the solution isn’t because of a lack of clarification on my part.

In the context of a subreddit where air traffic controllers are openly planning to berate the Secretary of Transportation, crash Air Force One, and skip work in January, this kind of post is more than a little ominous. And there’s an awful lot of posts like this, on the air traffic control subreddits. It’s reminiscent of the mysterious guy (with ties to foreign intelligence agencies) who kept talking to Thomas Crooks on YouTube, and encouraged him to go to war, before he ultimately shot Donald Trump in the head in Butler.

The entire ATC subreddit is a cesspool, but it’s also a cesspool that the federal government needs to start paying attention to.

That said, there was one good sign that I came across, in this entire subreddit. One post was moderately reassuring.

Credit: Reddit.com

It’s a post that suggests the Secret Service is aware of threats that controllers may pose for the president.

Here’s what it says: 

The one time president Biden came to my airport, a secret service guy showed up 30min-1hr ahead of time and basically monitored you control Air Force One (in this case it was actually marine one) and we sterilized our airspace. So if anything it makes our workload easier so we don’t have to do anything else, except clear them to land and had zero other aircraft to worry about.

That’s one level of defense against these people, which is obviously a very necessary precaution. You can put an agent in the tower and make sure they don’t kamikaze a plane into Air Force One. But the Trump administration has to go much, much further. There’s more than enough reason, at this point, to investigate the people posting these threats and deranged statements on the air traffic control forum. Start a federal investigation and subpoena Reddit for the IP addresses of every single one of these posters who’s pledging to commit a crime (including by calling in sick, or targeting Air Force One). 

We simply cannot allow government employees to openly plot acts of terrorism, or any federal crime. But that’s the state of air traffic control in this country. And it’s been that way for some time.

Two years ago, for example, the New York Times reported that air traffic controllers were routinely showing up to work while drunk or high.

One air traffic controller went into work drunk this summer and joked about “making big money buzzed.” Another routinely smoked marijuana during breaks. A third employee threatened violence and then “aggressively pushed” a colleague who was directing airplanes. … In the past two years, air traffic controllers and others have submitted hundreds of complaints to a Federal Aviation Administration hotline describing issues like dangerous staffing shortages, mental health problems and deteriorating buildings, some infested by bugs and black mold. There were at least seven reports of controllers sleeping when they were on duty and five about employees working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. … In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, there were 503 air traffic control lapses that the F.A.A. preliminarily categorized as “significant,” 65 percent more than in the prior year.

And to be clear, most of these controllers weren’t even fired. That’s how low the standards are, and how powerful the union is.

You can debate whether or not these controllers are overworked or underpaid. (Privatizing the entire system would address all of these issues, and allow the market to correct for them, but the controllers don’t want that, either.)

But really, the question of whether these controllers are overworked isn’t relevant. The most relevant question is whether we’re hiring good people who are mentally competent. And based on what I’ve found, we clearly aren’t doing that.

Reddit, as we’ve discussed so many times, is a breeding ground for domestic terrorism. And in this case, the threat couldn’t be any more apparent, or more urgent. When Americans board a plane, they should have some assurance that the person guiding that plane doesn’t hate the country, or want to murder hundreds of people to spite Donald Trump. Sean Duffy, and the Trump administration at large, need to provide that assurance, and they need to do it quickly — before any of these air traffic controllers manage to act out their fantasies, and hurt a lot of innocent Americans in the process.