This also describes 99% of @GOP congress members
— Andrew Wortman ?????? (@AmoneyResists) October 30, 2021
This lame little in-joke is just a way for them to pretend to be edgy without getting called into HR. Like if Ted Cruz's creepy smile were a catchphrase.
The only proper response to this is to say, without euphemism, Fuck Trump. https://t.co/cNVm56aeuK
— zeddy (@Zeddary) October 30, 2021
A Southwest Airlines pilot is now under an internal investigation after signing off from a flight using the phrase "Let's go, Brandon."
Southwest says it does not condone its employees sharing personal political opinions while working. https://t.co/SqTyZtubj5
— NPR (@NPR) November 1, 2021
Do I think ‘LGB’ Pilot deserves to lose his job? No, but he has most certainly, and deliberately, earned himself some workplace consequences. Sometimes, you wanna be all edgy, and it turns out the edges are sharp enough to cut you. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!
… Southwest says it does not condone its employees sharing personal political opinions while working.
“One Employee’s individual perspective should not be interpreted as a viewpoint for Southwest and its collective 54,000 Employees,” the airline’s statement said.
“Southwest is conducting an internal investigation into the recently reported event and will address the situation directly with any Employee involved while continuing to remind all Employees that public expression of personal opinions while on duty is unacceptable. Southwest does not tolerate any behavior that encourages divisiveness,” the airline said.
Of course, since Repubs are nothing if not traditionalists, they’ll be hawking this rich jest at each other until the heat death of the universe and/or the next New Hawt Catchphrase…
MEDIA: “Some Republicans are doing a thing. To find out if that thing is OK, let’s ask a Republican strategist.”
REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: “Yeah it’s cool. Get bent, losers.”
MEDIA: “Well, there you have it.”
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) October 30, 2021
20 yrs from now they’ll still be churning out Trump Voter coverage; https://t.co/eH42VKHnyD
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) October 30, 2021
if you want to say fuck joe biden you can just say fuck joe biden. using a code phrase then running off giggling is so infantile i'm surprised matt gaetz hasn't tried to fuck it.
— Jean-Michel Connard ? (@torriangray) October 31, 2021
I mean it’s fine but a fascinating asymmetry in American politics is that many of the people saying this worked themselves into a lather of outrage about Sarah Huckabee Sanders being refused service at a random restaurant and drove multiple days of media coverage. https://t.co/nSWQm6M4mm
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 31, 2021
The "Let's go Brandon" thing doesn't offend me in the slightest, I just think it's childish and cowardly. The secret code for "Fuck Trump" was, is, and always will be "Fuck Trump."
— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) November 1, 2021
In summary: FUCK TRUMP. And confusion to his every supporter (which is pretty much their natural state).
Old Dan and Little Ann
That tweet referencing gaetz is gold. I have a book of faces hate follow who has friends who do nothing but share “Let’s go Brandon” memes.
Gravenstone
The correct response to “let’s go Brandon” is “fuck you and fuck your feelings, you fucking MAGAt”.
Baud
I couldn’t care less about their juvenile slogan but the pilot should definitely be disciplined.
Mike R
@Gravenstone: Sounds perfectly acceptable to me.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
There’s a local restaurant owner that has “Let’s Go Brandon” on his digital reader board, as well as an ad for an anti-mask, anti-vaxx “it’s a personal choice” school board candidate.
I agree that it’s incredibly childish and cowardly. Just say “fuck Biden”.
I have to even wonder how many normal people would even get what it’s referring to. Like, it’s for some local athlete who’s gone to state finals, or something, I can imagine somebody thinking.
I feel really bad for the Brandon guy who won that NASCAR race where this phrase came from. It’s like, how disrespectful to that driver who’s had a huge thing happen to his racing career and a crowd shouts, “Fuck Joe Biden” during a post-race interview. If I was him, I’d just feel like my victory was tainted by that. Even if it had been “Fuck Donald Trump”, I’d feel the same way.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
I don’t even get what’s so funny about it. It’s not even a real joke
Rocks
“Do I think ‘LGB’ Pilot deserves to lose his job?” Absolutely!
dr. bloor
Political views aside, he just alienated a huge chunk of the customer base. If I’m King of Southwest, he’s gone, deservedly so, and it’s not a particularly close call.
Rocks
@Gravenstone: Better still, post a picture of Trumpers proudly wearing “Fuck Your Feelings” T shirts in public.
debbie
If i were flying anywhere, I’d sure be boycotting Southwest.
MattF
Doesn’t even reach reach the level of ‘functioning sociopath’. These are people who, someday, may have an emotion.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Maybe he’s a Trumper?
NorthLeft12
I am no expert on employment laws in the US, but if this is that pilot’s first incident of this type I don’t believe that firing is appropriate or even possible if he is a union member.
I think some kind of public apology and what we used to call C & C (coaching and counseling) or retraining would cover this misjudgement. If this guy is a trump loving asshole he might just quit his job anyway because that’s what these dopes do.
Baud
@NorthLeft12:
I think you’re probably right.
ETA: I still think that’s important though.
Ol'Froth
Actually he SHOULD lose his job over it. Bringing negative coverage upon your employer is a firable offense. There are plenty of pilots flying puddle jumpers who’d love to move into the cockpit of a 737.
VOR
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): My local school board has a slate of 4 candidates running on a unified anti-mask, anti-CRT platform. Three of them claim to be active in their church, the 4th is a cop. A friend says there is also a unified slate of anti-mask, anti-CRT candidates in her school district, all sponsored by the local mega-church. I’m wondering how wide-spread this is and who is funding it.
WaterGirl
@Ol’Froth: I absolutely agree with you!
Oh, and all your comments will go into moderation – where each one has to be manually approved – because WordPress doesn’t like apostrophes in nyms. :-)
Some people substitute an asterisk, some might add a space in place of it, etc. Totally up to you, but I wanted to let you know the score.
The Dangerman
Unless MAGAT Aiirlines is hiring, I hope the pilot understands all those hours of training and all that money expended just got sent down the shitter; most airlines won’t hire him to clean the heads.
Asshole.
ETA: Unless his copilots name was Brandon. Now, that would be kinda funny,
Peale
When I see “LGB Pilot” I think it’s an anti-trans, anti-non-binary conservative in the vein of Andrew Sullivan. Please don’t borrow those letters.
RaflW
A couple of decades ago I thought the Southwest culture was cool. Willing to walk up to the edges of rules to provide fast, frequent service on local hops, maybe even lightly bend them from time to time to get ya there.
But the penny started to drop for me when I realized the interplay between Southwest and Boeing on the MAX disaster. SWA absolutely positively did not want to have to pay for “difference training” on a simulator for pilots to transition to the newest 737 model. Boeing as we now know, bent rules way past breaking to meet that demand.
This pilot may be somewhat of an outlier in being dumb enough to speak his MAGA talk over the PA, but it reflects a ‘rules are for normies’ attitude that I have in middle age come to equate with risk taking that is more about cutting safety corners than cutting useless red tape. The pilots at SWA were particularly pushy about resisting the vaccine, too.
Just the other day we paid a multiple of SWA’s fare to book a ticket on Delta for after Christmas. We can afford it, and it reflects our preference for a grown up, non-macho airline.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I have no idea if he is or not; when you get to the Cup and Xfinity Series levels, particularly within the last 10 years, you don’t say stuff that will offend your sponsors. Even if he was, I would think he wouldn’t want his victory (he’s a rookie or least someone with not many race wins under his belt) to be tainted by polarizing, crude political chants. Or at least I wouldn’t if I was in his position if it had been “Fuck Trump” instead
Ruckus
@NorthLeft12:
What I’d like to see is him with a month off with no pay. And have to undergo retraining and company policy review.
He violated a company policy, according to the airline. He shouldn’t not suffer if they really want to control that sort of crap. And if he quits and tries to get another airline job, is anyone going to hire him?
The Dangerman
@dr. bloor:
Nope. This pilot has about a hundred million dollars in his hands. That lack of judgement should be instafire.
Captain C
@dr. bloor: Or just give him red-eyes east and early A.M.’s going west, preferably one of those classic Southwestern 2- or 3-stop routes
ETA: Making sure that doing so does not actually become a danger to the passengers.
Patricia Kayden
Nicole
I’ve never flown Southwest, as they didn’t have a hub in NYC until relatively recently, and I’m certainly not going to fly them now, because, having seen what unhinged right-wingers can do, I wouldn’t feel safe on one of their aircrafts, knowing that they have openly right-winger pilots. I’m not exaggerating. Yes, I know anyone can blow their fuse and harm other people, but the fuses seem to be much shorter in right wingers and I really wouldn’t feel safe in a plane flown by someone espousing this stuff while doing a job where he has people’s lives in his hands.
Ruckus
@RaflW:
I used to fly all over this country for work, on the road 4-6 days a week for almost 8 months a year. I avoided Southwest with a passion. The other airlines could be bad enough, I felt like luggage with Southwest. Now it would be conservative luggage. No thanks.
tokyokie
I agree with this sentiment, and I would add that the foundational teaching of the New Testament is the Golden Rule espoused in the Sermon on the Mount: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Funny how the performative assholes almost all consider themselves not merely Christians, but superior Christians.
The Moar You Know
Do I think ‘LGB’ Pilot deserves to lose his job?
I do. Pilots kid here. If he’s breaking the rules about this (and they exist) then he’s breaking other rules.
RaflW
@Ol’Froth: Alas in the short term that isn’t quite correct. Airlines are scrambling to refill the ranks of pilots right now. A reasonable balance will return, but for now they are finding out that letting a bunch of senior pilots retire early was a hasty way to save money in 2020 only to risk money in 2021.
And for all of us: Be aware that the inevitable weather issues around the holidays this year may mean noticeably worse airline service recovery after. When plans and crew get out of whack it can take days to reorient everything and get the needed crew rest, etc. There is very little ready reserve on the flight line.
Alison Rose
I should probably feel badly about how hard I laughed my ass off at the Gaetz tweet, but I don’t.
Remember when Hillary called them deplorable and it was the worst thing a human has ever said about other humans in the history of humankind?
Good times.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
it seems Andrew Sullivan has become much less prominent in recent years. It’s been a good thing
Chief Oshkosh
Actually, there’s are several subtexts going on here. We’ve beaten to death some of them, but one not covered is how SWA pilots view themselves compared to pilots of other airlines. For instance, they brag that SWA has a higher percentage of former military pilots than other airlines. I have no idea if this is true, but they brag about this. Second, but related, their pilots apparently are more outraged about the vax mandate than pilots of other airlines. They tried to take credit for the recent SWA scheduling problems, murmuring that it was blue flu, and not a decade of mismanagement of resources, that caused all the cancellations a few weeks ago. Management, of course, love this because it let them off the hook for being incompetent.
Also, SWA pilots especially hate UA pilots, and openly call them wussies for knuckling under to the Biden mandates. Before that, they also hated UA pilots because UA pilots make better use of their union, in general, and this had led to more women pilots making captain a long time ago. Boy, they really hate that.
I have no idea what they think about American Airlines and Delta pilots.
Bottom line: SWA pilots are proud to be misogynistic, hyperagressive assholes, and in an industry of assholes who are worse than surgeons in thinking that they are gods, that says a lot.
PS: SWA pilots are also the loudest and proudest for having more pilots and co-pilots carrying sidearms than those of other airlines. Again, I have no idea if this is true, but they do brag about it.
Mike in NC
Republicans might claim, as did the Fat Orange Clown, to be the least racist people you could ever meet. It was purely a coincidence that so many of them faxed around photoshopped images of President Obama with a bone through the his nose.
NotMax
Boeing, Joe-ing, gone.
//
The Moar You Know
@Nicole: The vast majority of pilots are Republicans. Had been that way for decades.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike in NC: he’s also the least anti-Semitic person you could ever meet
Ruckus
This. I mean I disagree with the sentiment but the concept of a not at all funny catch phrase being in any way comical or political or worthy of any one old enough to have attended jr high school really does explain the conservative world.
matt
Yeah, that’s kind of my response to this cutesy stuff. ‘Fuck Trump and death to his followers’.
Dan B
@Chief Oshkosh: Had a neighbor whose license plate surround said; My Other Car is a 747. Muscly macho gay man who would dress in macho outfits on weekend evenings looking hopped up and out to hunt. Very creepy.
Chief Oshkosh
@RaflW:
A month ago, I flew Delta, the captain came out right after the flight attendants had done their safety talk and he had himself an EXTRA safety talk. He was older and a bit crusty, and I feared the worse. Instead, he glowered over his mask, looking up and down the aisle, and then proceeded to tell everyone that he planned on sleeping in his bed at home that night (we were heading to Atlanta) and that if anyone — A-N-Y-O-N-E — wanted to test ‘his’ flight crew on Delta’s mask policy, they would immediately regret it, but that we were going to Atlanta right now.
It.Was.Great.
tokyokie
@RaflW: The corporate culture at SWA changed once founder Herb Kelleher retired as president and CEO in 2001. (He remained as chairman of the board for a few more years.) One of Kelleher’s strategies was to have an all-737 fleet to simplify maintenance. But in order to expand nationally, SWA had to start flying longer routes, and to do that with the all-737 fleet meant bringing in the MAXes. And you’ve indicated where that led. Under Kelleher, SWA was a wildly successful regional carrier. But once the airline expanded, it became just another carrier with an awful customer experience.
debbie
@Mike in NC:
Believe me, I got far worse emails. From my own family members.
Nicole
@The Moar You Know: I don’t care that a majority of pilots are Republicans; the majority of white men in America are Republican. My anxiety is when a right-winger gets right-wingy enough that he will proclaim their right-wingy-ness while on the job, especially a job that entails them keeping a bunch of strangers alive. That indicates to me a lack of good judgment and a propensity towards impulsive behavior, which are not things I want to think about the guy flying the plane I’m on.
Omnes Omnibus
Perhaps we should all stay clear of hot takes.
Leto
Off topic, but Justice Kagan’s argument in today’s Texas law case is just a very brutal smack down of her fellow conservative justices:
”The fact that after oh these many years some geniuses came up with a way to evade the commands of that decision as well as the command that the broader – the even broader principle – that states are not to nullify federal constitutional rights, and to say ‘oh we’ve never see this before so we can’t do anything about it.’ I guess I just don’t understand that argument.”
/clap
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Wish I could remember the name of the group, but I remember TFG speaking to a Jewish group during the 2020 campaign: “You’re terrible people, but you have to vote for me.”
WTF?
satby
@Baud: The pilot should be fired. Don’t even imagine for a second that they wouldn’t have summarily fired a POC who pulled something similar. It was a challenge/dare to SW.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Reassuring. It’ll be nice once it’s done. Everyone is ready to move onto the next crisis.
Omnes Omnibus
You might want to rephrase that.
Baud
@satby:
Honestly, I’d be a little surprised if something like this hasn’t happened before.
Omnes Omnibus
@satby: Is SWA a union airline? If so, there are rules. They should be followed.
SiubhanDuinne
Now I really want some wingnut to say “Let’s go, Brandon” in my presence, just so I can say this back at them.
stinger
Pence is in the area, about to give a talk to college repubs on “preserving liberties and freedom”. Glad it’s not just the one or the other!
germy
germy
Frankensteinbeck
@tokyokie:
American Evangelical Christianity, and I am not being humorous here, believes that the foundational teaching of the New Testament is that only worshiping Jesus Christ can save you from going to Hell. With that as the center point, their second priority is determining who correctly worships Jesus, which is the only definition of a good person. They are completely open about that as the core of their faith.
This frees the board for the hate and self-righteousness that is the driving emotional theme of the movement.
Ryan
“… Southwest says it does not condone its employees sharing personal political opinions while working.”
Forget sharing political opinions, the GOP is anti-science! How can a pilot be a GOPer and not believe in science? Or is it just inconvenient science they don’t believe in?
Baud
@Ryan:
Maybe be believes in science but wants tax cuts or hates black people.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: It might be. But even union shops have exceptions for severe violations. But if there’s a process to follow, then by all means ground the fucker on an unpaid leave while it plays out.
Baud
@germy:
FWIW, the judge ruled based on the union contract, not some made up right to refuse the vaccine.
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
They have a couple of hundred years of being told by every authority figure in their small towns that the true and proper state of the world is white patriarchy, and everyone who does not submit is evil and should be hurt or better yet killed. Until mass media and especially the internet, there was no penetration of those societies from counter-messages from the outside world. Their first real experience with having this message contested was desegregation, and they just get more and more angry as the outside world interferes with their little “Run the n- out of town, beat the kid who you suspect is gay to death, force the girl the high school football champ raped to be the town prostitute” society.
This goes way, way farther beyond and farther back than conservative media.
Cameron
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m reminded of the old saying when I worked at the railroad: “We can all sing together, but we can’t talk together.”
germy
@Baud:
The union is against protecting their members from the #1 killer of cops. They need to sit down and think things through.
sab
@Baud: SW Airlines pilots are often a little snarky. It is usually a fun part pf their culture. Glad he is being called on the political content. As a First Amendment fan and Labor rights fan I don’t want him fired now, but make him think twice about infuriating a big chunk of the customer base. It is a business, after all.
satby
@germy: He delayed the deadline and sent it back to arbitration. And didn’t touch the twice weekly testing for unvaccinated officers. In the meantime, the twice weekly testing is unpleasant enough that slowly a lot of holdouts are getting vaxxed.
Cameron
@stinger: Or “taking liberties and freedom.”
Baud
@germy:
I agree.
germy
@satby:
I think they should also be tested for steroids.
satby
@germy: And the judge actually noted that in his comments.
Omnes Omnibus
@satby: Hot takes will kill us.
germy
My wife and I watched about an hour of “Newsy” (antenna TV news station) and they seem to devote more attention to the 90% of people and workers who are happy to be vaccinated, rather than the noisy crowds of people with the Gadsden “don’t jab on me” flags.
Baud
@germy:
Wow. You mentioned that channel before. I’m getting intrigued.
debbie
@germy:
I rescanned, but still haven’t found that channel.
satby
And note for the record, we’re talking about two groups of mostly white guys acting out and being obstructionist again. Which supports the Kevin Kruse tweet at the top. It’s about being able to be an asshole in public.
germy
@satby:
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: yep.
Amazing what you find out when you click through and read the source material.
germy
@debbie:
They have a website, but I haven’t spent any time on it.
Baud
@germy:
That would be you, Catanzara.
germy
@satby:
I didn’t see anything incorrect in Patrick Smith’s tweet.
satby
@germy: Yeah, Catanzara’s a well known asshole, but if I was Lightfoot I would call his bluff and agree to a full swab far-up-the-nose PCR test before every shift and make a big production about going along with him. His own guys will be gunning for him in a week.
Baud
@satby:
Throw in an anal swab just to be extra safe.
eclare
I absolutely think that pilot should be fired. If I had been in that plane, after the pilot said that, I would wonder multiple things: does this pilot believe in science? Does this pilot believe the earth is flat? Is this pilot pissed as hell and suicidal because Hillary whatever?
I would not have felt safe with my life in this pilot’s hands. Let’s not forget the German pilot who crashed his plane into a mountainside who is now a hero to incels.
germy
@satby:
Do they still do the long q-tip up the nose? I wonder if they agreed to something less invasive.
Omnes Omnibus
@germy: It’s not just what’s in the tweet, but also what’s left out.
satby
@germy: Bait clicky and designed to outrage, but technically correct in the portion of the story he chooses to share. We don’t like it when the FTFNYT does it, why should he get a pass?
satby
@germy: no idea, I just said that’s what I’d do if I was LL to call his bluff. And yes, they still do swabs up the nose.
The Pale Scot
What can be done is schedule for all the shittiest hops. Texas to the flyover country for a year. No big cities, no beaches, no tourist areas. My sister is a flight attendant. Getting to fly to the nice places while getting paid is a big part of the job
germy
@satby:
Unfortunately, this seems to be the future of “print” journalism. He gave some basic facts in his limited tweet and directed me to his article where he filled in the details.
He could have created a long twitter thread and addressed every aspect of the story, but then his bosses would have noticed the lack of traffic to the news org. I’m sure they count every click.
I’m just grateful he didn’t pivot to video, like Facebook/Meta wanted online news to adopt. I preferred his article.
The Pale Scot
@Nicole:
A majority of the pilots are Trumpers, everywhere.
Omnes Omnibus
@germy: He had 240 characters. He could have been more accurate. But then people might not have quoted his tweet.
Baud
@germy:
You’re right. The invisible hand clicks on bait.
evodevo
@Omnes Omnibus:
If they REALLY wanted to press it…they could do blood draws to test – bet that would take care of anti-vaxx sentiment real quick…
germy
@Baud:
“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”
Lacuna Synecdoche
zeddy via Anne Laurie @ Top:
Or:
Hey, I was just wondering, does Trump still pay whores to piss on him?
Lacuna Synecdoche
Anne Laurie @ Top:
Not even a new catchphrase will deter wingnuts from repeating this and all the other right-wing bon mots – these are people who still repeat, and laugh at, Chappaquiddick jokes.
mrmoshpotato
I’ll continue saying “Fuck Trump!” because fuck Trump!
randy khan
I don’t know if reporters haven’t talked to Dems or if they found the responses, ah, unsatisfying:
“I hadn’t heard about that.”
“I don’t care.”
“Isn’t there something more useful to ask me about?”
Citizen Alan
@Frankensteinbeck:
I have made the comment repeatedly that the reason I don’t consider myself a Christian anymore is that about 25 years ago, I had an epiphany and realized that I simply didn’t believe in the Holy Trinity. And by Holy Trinity, I was not referring to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I meant the real Holy Trinity: that Abortion is Murder, Homosexuality is an Abomination, and basic high school science is a tool of the Devil that he uses to lead people away from Christ. And since it is more important to believe those three things than it is to believe anything Jesus actually said about how he wanted his followers to behave, I could no longer in good conscience call myself a Christian.
Citizen Alan
@satby: Personally, I don’t get that. I’ve been tested three times since I got to NYC. It wasn’t a pleasurable experience, but it was at worst a trivial inconvenience that lasted less than ten seconds. People who get bent out of shape over testing are absolute babies, IMO.
NotoriousJRT
@satby: Cost to be the responsibility of the van refuse-nik?
Balconesfault
My response when I encounter it is “grab Brandon by the pussy”.
Ol'Froth
@RaflW: Oh I know that. I worked at an airport and saw how weather+holiday crush totally screwed the pooch.