It is no secret the Trump Administration is close-knit, and mostly run by President Donald Trump’s friends and family. Trump’s promotional nepotism has hit the headlines once more, as he is pushing for his personal pilot to become the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
According to the FAA’s website, this administration is responsible for regulating all civil aircraft, developing aircraft control systems for both civil and military aircraft, as well as regulating all the U.S. commercial flights. The FAA has a $16.4 billion dollar budget and handles over 50,000 flights daily.
This is only a brief overview of what the FAA does, but it essentially has its hands in every flight system and the regulation of all types of aircraft. Now, the FAA is also broadening its scope to include drones.
So which under-qualified friend is Trump trying to promote now? John Dunkin, Trump’s longtime personal pilot. Once again, the White House is pushing a message on how qualified Trump’s choice is.
CNN quotes an unknown White House official who told Axios, “John Dunkin isn’t just a pilot. He’s managed airline and corporate flight departments, certified airlines from start-up under FAA regulations, and oversaw the Trump presidential campaign’s air fleet, which included managing all aviation transportation for travel to 203 cities in 43 states over the course of 21 months.”
First of all, making sure airlines are certified under FAA regulations and creating better regulations for all airlines are completely different responsibilities. Additionally, pilots fly planes. Why does the Administration feel it is important enough to state this on his “resume?” Saying a pilot flies is not something which should be pointed out.
We have all heard this Administration back up Trump’s buddies before, so this is nothing new. He originally did this with George Papadopoulos, and we all saw the disastrous trash pile that turned into. Trump and his Administration have a habit of defending their candidates and people, no matter their background or qualifications.
Whether Dunkin proves a worthy candidate or not is a moot point by now, as America has a hard time trusting Trump’s candidates for just this reason. The habit of this Administration pushing Trump’s top picks runs deeper than just his friends, as he has his family with him in the White House.
Some people may debate whether Trump’s nepotism and playing favorites is a problem, as some barely see this as a problem. The list of why this is wrong is nearly infinite, but Trump’s favorite appointees can essentially show too much allegiance to Trump, who already has too many blind followers from the Republican Party.
The best example of this is his daughter, Ivanka Trump. She was asked in an NBC interview how she feels about Trump’s accusers, and she said, “I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated there’s no truth to it.”
If a top White House official cannot weigh in on issues regarding the President’s accusations of sexual misconduct because it is her father and she has too much allegiance to him, she should step down, as she is not serving her position or the people to the best of her ability.
With how seemingly frustrated America is with the president, you would think the Administration would push for a neutral pathway to appease the angry citizens. Instead, Trump keeps shoving his friends and family down the public’s throat, expecting a different, better outcome each time (this is the definition of insanity, by the way).
If Trump and his aids ever want to make a positive difference in America, or at least get their approval rating out of the abysmal percentages it has been, they need to start pushing more middle-of-the-line candidates who are not connected to Trump in any way.