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A California man named Ed called into my SiriusXM show and claimed he was “not trying to give away a position one way or the other” but that a Southwest Airlines pilot can be excused for saying “Let’s Go Brandon!” — code for “Fuck you, Biden!” — to passengers from the cockpit because of the “mental illness” foisted on Donald Trump by the “media and Hollywood.”
Ed said that “he had to listen to four years” of it, but added “not that I’m trying to take a position” —as if he weren’t a Trump supporter — and thus he doesn’t have sympathy for Biden and thinks calls for the Southwest pilot to be fired or punished are wrong.


Ed implied there was no difference between media pundits, celebrities or even politicians criticizing the president and a pilot of a private airline doing so on a flight with passengers and using code for a profanity.
“Oh, yes there was,” he said, when I said that there hadn’t been anything like this against Trump that wasn’t punished. “Sure there was,” he shot back. “Are you blind?”
“So wait — there was a pilot who did that?” I asked. He then deflected.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ed responded, trying to say this was the same as the media and Hollywood figures criticizing Trump, which is ludicrous.
In fact, I pointed out, Kathy Griffin, working for a private company, CNN, was fired for tweeting out a photo of a mask of Trump with ketchup on it — and by the way, she is a performer, meant to be provocative and make us think, and not an airline pilot, whose only job is to fly a plane.
It got pretty ridiculous. And it was a window into these people’s (non) thinking.
Listen in and let me know your thoughts!
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Man defends pilot cursing Biden because people "had to listen to" media criticism of Trump
I had a similar experience not long after flights resumed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The pilot went on a churchy rant that made me nervous to the point I almost walked out. This is considerably worse, and both cases reveal a type of unprofessional personality that in my opinion is not compatible with this type of job.
This guy should absolutely get terminated. What’s the next thing we’re supposed to be expected to tolerate from a pilot when boarding a plane, a nazi salute?
The pilot represents the airline. As a highly trained, highly paid employee, he’s supposed to show the utmost professionalism. Airing his political opinions whatever they are is utterly unacceptable. As much as I loathe trump, I would have said the same about a pilot saying “put trump in jail”. It’s not the place or time. And if they don’t want to behave in a professional manner, I’m sure there is a cargo airline in Belarus that’s eager to hire them.
By not sacking this pilot, Southwest is implicitly endorsing his message, and I think we should remind them of that relentlessly.
No pilot should go on the public address system and tell his captive audience passengers how he feels about politics or any other divisive topic at all. When you are locked in a commercial aircraft you want the pilot to be completely professional so you feel he is clear headed and focused on doing his job - because you life and all the others on board depends upon it.