As planes keep crashing down on a weekly basis since Donald Trump took office, new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reiterated that he's fired hundreds of FAA employees so far. He then had the gall to criticize former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — who had zero commercial plane crashes on his watch — for FAA "mismanagement."
"Mayor Pete failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system," Duffy said in a post, deflecting all responsibility while responding to questions from Buttigieg asking "How many FAA personnel were just fired?…And why?"
Duffy went on to suggest that the FAA's "staggering" employee count of 45,000 was too much and angrily complained that "over 90% of the workforce" under Buttigieg had worked from home, "even him." Duffy then admitted that, in the few weeks since he took over the Department of Transportation, he'd already sacked "less than 400" employees.
In conclusion, Duffy, a former reality TV celeb, dramatically said, "I will not rest until I return the Department of Transportation and its incredible employees to its mission of efficiency and safety." Return? So in other words, while DOGE-style "efficiency" comes before all else, he also plans to bring the Department of Transportation back to the safer, crash-free Buttigieg days of air travel.
Duffy's defensive and accusatory Xitter post came hours after news broke that yet another plane had crashed under his administration — this time, a Delta Air Lines flight out of Minneapolis carrying 80 people yesterday that lost a wing as it flipped upside -down and landed belly-side up in Toronto. Fortunately, although 18 people were injured, everyone on board — who were "hanging like bats" —survived.
Previously: Musk-Trump Administration fires "hundreds" of FAA workers — hours before yet another deadly plane crash
