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President Donald Trump attacked air traffic controllers on Monday who have missed unpaid work shifts due to the government shutdown. Trump ripped air traffic controllers for not showing up to work despite them not receiving paychecks during the ongoing government shutdown. He said that those who do not show up to work will be “docked,” without a clear explanation of what that means for the unpaid workers. He also said he will be recommending a $10,000 bonus for those who showed up to work—but did not outline how he would implement that. “All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn’t will be substantially ‘docked.’ For those Air Traffic Controllers who were GREAT PATRIOTS, and didn’t take ANY TIME OFF for the ‘Democrat Shutdown Hoax,’ I will be recommending a BONUS of $10,000 per person for distinguished service to our Country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU. You didn’t step up to help the U.S.A. against the FAKE DEMOCRAT ATTACK that was only meant to hurt our Country. You will have a negative mark, at least in my mind, against your record,” he added. Despite there being a shortage of air traffic controllers, he told those workers to “leave service” if they want to. “If you want to leave service in the near future, please do not hesitate to do so, with NO payment or severance of any kind! You will be quickly replaced by true Patriots, who will do a better job on the Brand New State of the Art Equipment, the best in the World, that we are in the process of ordering,” he said. “The last ‘Administration’ wasted Billions of Dollars trying to fix antiquated ‘junk.’ They had no idea what they were doing! Again, to our great American Patriots, GOD BLESS YOU - I won’t be able to send your money fast enough! To all others, REPORT TO WORK IMMEDIATELY,” Trump added. The government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, has fueled chaos across the country due to federal employees not being paid. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began reducing flights at 40 major airports on Friday amid the ongoing government shutdown, causing thousands of delays and cancellations across the country over the weekend. On Sunday, the FAA reported some arrivals at Newark were delayed an average of 2 hours and 14 minutes due to staffing shortages. The flight reduction, ordered by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, affects some of the busiest airports around the U.S., including Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro and major New York airports. Duffy warned on Sunday that travel disruptions will “only get worse” as the shutdown continues, noting that air traffic controllers are not showing up to work without being paid. He reiterated that officials are still working to ensure it is safe to travel despite ongoing staffing shortages. “Yes, so we’re working overtime to make sure that it is safe to travel. And so if we have staffing triggers in locations in the American airspace, what we will do is, we will slow traffic, which means you will have delays, and then airlines might cancel flights,” Duffy said. “The problem is that, as I try to reduce the pressure by lowering flights, I have more controllers that keep not coming to work. And so the pressure goes back up again. And so I’m critically aware of that pressure, of rising risk and trying to take that out of the system,” he added.
