Transportation Secretary is a real train wreck. He went on Fox to discuss the midair collision that happened last week and blamed the fact that the FAA uses the term "flight deck" instead of "cockpit." No, really:

So, Shannon, the mission of DOT and FAA is safety. That has been the historic mission of this agency. And over the last four years, when they're having a conversation in the last administration about changing names from cockpit to flight deck or notice-to-air men to notice-to-air mission because it's too gender-specific, they're focused on social justice and in the environment, racist roads and EVs, they've lost sight of the mission of this department. And so, we have no place for anything other than the best and the brightest. And so, when you look at what went wrong, you've got to look at the people that you have in place at the DOT and the FAA and the leadership and the direction that leadership gives them. And it's been misplaced over the last four years. We're back on mission. We're focused on safety and having the best people delivering that safety. And I don't care your race, your religion, your sex, your sexual preference. That doesn't matter. Just the best and the brightest.

And to prove his point, Duffy has gone about systematically demoralizing and disenfranchising the people who work for him. He started by declaring that the USDOT will no longer recognize celebrations based on immutable traits or identity-based observations. Duffy went on to say that such things were only "distractions."

Add to that the fact that the day before the crash, air traffic controllers were urged to take the early buyout offer from the Mango Moron. They only found out after the crash that the Orange Felon made them exempt and even then, they only found out from a news reporter instead of their own manager, Duffy. I'm sure that it was pure coincidence that the exemption came just about the same time the media was figuring out that there is an extreme shortage of air traffic controllers and that the staffing levels at the time of the collision were "not normal."

But have no fear folks! Even though the DOT is short tens of thousands of workers nationwide, Duffy promises that he will have everything up to snuff and fully staffed. Because who wouldn't want to work in a high-stress job for a guy who insults you, hired you only for the color of your white skin, and says showing you any respect at all is a mere distraction?

Somehow, saying cockpit doesn't seem to quite balance things out.

Sean Duffy on Fox News Sunday suggests that "changing names from 'cockpit' to flightdeck'" undermined safety at the FAA pic.twitter.com/8SX04CfAKv

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 2, 2025