In this episode, Mike Gallagher explores the complexities surrounding the tragic midair collision near Reagan National Airport. From dissecting media coverage to examining infrastructural concerns, Mike sits down with pilots and aviation experts to offer insights into the accident’s causes and consequences. Listen as Mike engages with callers, discussing the broader societal implications and questioning the erosion of empathy in times of tragedy.
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He’s the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor studios, here’s Mike Geller.
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I hope we never lose our humanity. As awful as political battles can be, I hope we never forget our humanity. I hope we never lose sight of the things that matter. Family, life, freedom. There’s been so, so many bizarre reactions to this horrific, catastrophic aircraft collision over Reagan National. And I don’t want to give a lot of attention to the people who have politicized this. If you sit around and tried to come up with ways to blame the Trump administration or the Department of Defense or Sean Duffy, the new Transportation Secretary, if you thought it would be smart to publicly express criticism of the brand-new Donald Trump administration over this aircraft disaster, you need help. You’ve got to rethink your life. You have to look in the mirror and say something has gone really, really wrong with you. Because these are broken people. They don’t have all the bodies out of the water. This is a horrific catastrophe. And there are 68 families who lost loved ones last night. And, you know, unlike a news program, this is a talk show. I get to make editorial decisions over what is aired on my show. I told my team. First thing today, I don’t want to play any of the video clips that show the impact and the immediate loss of life. There are 68 families who don’t want the world to gawk at the moment their wife or husband or son or daughter or mother or father was killed. And I don’t want to play that. And we’re not going to play that. We’ll do our job. We’ll react. We’ll get your analysis. We’ll get your thoughts. We have a lot to cover, but I don’t want to exploit this horrific accident. And so if you felt the same way that I did last night when the cable networks and the news channels were playing the point of impact over and over and over again, And I don’t know that they mean it this way, but that’s the moment that 68 souls lost their lives. Incidentally, I hope that was when that happened. I hope that nobody plummeted into the water alive or aware. My hope and prayer is that they didn’t know what happened. It doesn’t look like they did. I hope and pray. We may never know. Then again… The way the culture goes, we probably will know if any of them were alive. I hope they weren’t. For the family’s sake, I hope they didn’t spend the last seconds of their life on Earth experiencing that kind of terror. Let’s not lose our humanity. These are people’s loved ones and friends and lovers and family members. You’ve got to bear in mind co-workers, members of the military. Somebody made a horrible, horrible mistake. Somebody did something terribly wrong. And the family of that person will have to live with that for the rest of their lives. But it is just inconceivable to me that somebody would think it’s a good idea to blame Trump. It’s astounding how many people did that last night. And some of them took it all down. There was a Nashville TV guy that went down that stupid rabbit hole. And then, of course, he took it down and said, well, it was misinterpreted. No, it wasn’t misinterpreted. You’re blaming the incoming administration for an aircraft disaster. What are you talking about? What are you talking about, you people misinterpreted? You intentionally wanted to score political points before all the bodies are even recovered. Guy bragged. I looked at his stupid social media account. I’m not even going to mention his name. I’ve been a journalist for 40 years. Oh, you’re that kind of journalist? And then I looked at the kind of journalist he is, stalking Christians and ripping the Trump administration. Guy’s a world-class jerk. Remember the Mark Davis credo, my friend in Dallas, Trump hatred makes smart people stupid and it turns nice people into mean, insufferable fools. Nice people turn vicious. when their souls are poisoned by that irrational hatred of the 45th and 47th president of the United States. Never seen anything like it in my life. Never have. Look, I lived through 9-11, as you did too, probably, unless you’re too young for that. We were in the Empire State Building the morning of September 11th. We lived it. We watched it. Saw bodies falling out of the towers with our own eyes. I don’t remember anybody blaming George Bush in the days or weeks afterwards. We were unified. We were unified. Democrats and Republicans in New York City, they didn’t even honk horns at each other for weeks. It was astounding. People weren’t yelling at each other on the Long Island Railroad like they normally did every morning when I would go in for the commute. People felt a sense of community. And we ought to feel that now. And I’d like to believe we do. I’m going to try to ignore and avoid the awful, awful people who have tried to politicize this crash. I want to certainly open up our phone lines. In fact, today is a day I’m going to lean on our callers a lot. I want to hear from pilots. Like many, I’ve flown in and out of Reagan National many, many times. And every time, it is a… nail-biter every time. Any pilot will tell you it’s not a normal approach because of its proximity to our nation’s capital. Pilots are required to do all kinds of odd maneuvers to get into the airport. I’m not sure if that contributed to this in any way, shape, or form or not, but it is a long-debated issue about that airport being plopped almost right in the middle of the nation’s capital. And, of course, the lawmakers love it because they can get in and out and go back to the district. And it’s a wonderfully close. My hotel the other day for the inauguration was about a minute from the airport. There’s a whole hotel row that’s one mile away. It’s amazing. Took me five minutes to get to the airport. Got out, rolled out of bed, got dressed, got my bag, went to the airport in about 10 minutes. It was amazing. That’s what people love about it. But what people love about it might be a fatal flaw. I don’t know. I don’t know. So I want to hear from pilots. I want to hear from people who are familiar with Reagan National. I want to hear from people who are familiar with the Blackhawk military helicopter technology. One of the frustrations about this awful event is that they are supposed to have world-class technology on both aircraft to have prevented such a catastrophe. So let’s get into all of it here on this Breaking News Thursday. Welcome into the Relief Factor studios. We’ll give you some of the updates from the officials. Sean Duffy, the brand-new Transportation Secretary, he spoke earlier, and sadly they have confirmed that they’ve changed it from a recovery, I mean from a rescue to a recovery mission, which means there are no survivors. All 64 souls on the American Airlines flight. Commuter jet, 64 passengers, 60 passengers rather, four crew members all perished and all four members of the military presumably on that helicopter died as well. So no survivors. Let’s get your reaction to all of it. 800-655-MIKE. Again, I want to put your voice front and center. Let’s remember our humanity. What happens to people’s humanity? How do people get so lost? And so broken that they think it’s a good idea to politicize a midair collision like this. Unreal. Unreal. I couldn’t believe my eyes last night. Let’s get your reaction to all of it. 800-655-MIKE. One phone number does it all. You can text or call here on the Mike Gallagher Show for this Thursday. 800-655-6453. I hope you join us. I wanna welcome some brand new partners to the Mike Gallagher Show, like Equity Protect, and this is a big, big deal. Your home’s title is often the most valuable thing you own. Next generation criminal technology is more advanced than ever. I’ve been an identity theft victim, it is no fun. 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Oh Oh Oh
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Mike Gallagher.
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Moments ago, the mayor of Wichita, Kansas, which is where American Airlines Flight 5342 originated from, spoke to reporters about the Olympians that were members of the U.S. figure skating team on that doomed flight. We’ll carry his comments for you in just a moment. Here’s cut 20. This is the… Washington, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly confirming the dreaded news that no one survived this crash.
SPEAKER 05 :
We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident. And we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter. The district office of the medical examiner has a lead on reuniting these bodies and these people with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones. We should also acknowledge that the Virginia medical examiner and the Army medical examiner are involved in this operation and a very important part of getting people identified.
SPEAKER 09 :
Heartbreaking, just heartbreaking. A lot of text messages on the MyPillow text line. Colorado, Mike, I’ve flown in and out of Reagan National many, many times. I always pray on approach. Crazy, the runways are at water level. Remember back in the 80s, a plane crashed into the 14th Street Bridge. I remember that. And there were survivors. There were people swimming out of the river in the horribly cold weather. Colorado says in his text, or her text, I don’t think you could get approval to build it there today. Here’s Sean from Dayton, Ohio. Mike, these people are heartless and soulless. How about they just take a breath and not look at tragedies as an opportunity to pounce on a man like Trump and his administration? It’s just ugly. It is awful. And, of course, we are inevitably left with the question, how did this happen? And I want to turn to our audience and people who are pilots or who know aviation way better than I do. We’ll start with John in Annapolis. John, thanks very much for joining us. I understand you are indeed a military pilot. Is that correct?
SPEAKER 11 :
I am. I’ve flown a couple of different airplanes, one of them H-60s. I’m not in the Army, but… Everyone except the Marines fly them, so I’m familiar with them. I’ve flown through D.C. I got a great picture of myself with the Washington Monument behind it. It’s a beautiful flight daytime, but it’s extremely busy airspace.
SPEAKER 09 :
And can you speak to the approach? Even the texter agreed with what I said a few minutes ago. The approach into Reagan National is so bizarre. I mean, they bank to the right, they bank to the left, and it’s because of its proximity to the District of Columbia, right?
SPEAKER 11 :
So, yeah, so there’s a whole bunch of rules. There’s a whole lot of things that change it there all the time. I’ve only been a passenger on that approach.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
So I can’t speak to flying it. Right. But as a helicopter pilot flying there, I can say helicopters have a lot of different rules. Helicopters are in different frequencies because helicopters can do things that fixed-wing airplanes just can’t do, like, you know, hover or fly at 30 knots. Sure. Weird thing. So, I mean, it’s… It could be a whole bunch of different things that happened.
SPEAKER 09 :
And of the two aircraft, John, the jet is on a fixed approach into the airport. The helicopter would have had the ability, right, if it saw the jet to maneuver around the landing jet, right? In other words, there’s only so much the pilot of the American Airlines jet could have done, isn’t there?
SPEAKER 11 :
Uh, yeah, I would agree that he’s, uh, on approach. It doesn’t mean that if he saw them, there’s nothing stopping him from waving off. No one would, uh, would fault him. You know, Hey, I see something my way. I’m not taking this approach. It’s not safe. Uh, no one would fault them for that. Right. But, um, I don’t think it’d be very easy to see anything. I mean, it’s, it’s, uh, relatively speaking, a tiny little speck at night. Um, They should have had their anti-collision lights on, but it was a training flight.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
They were training for some kind of night mission. Maybe they didn’t have them on. Maybe they forgot to turn them back on.
SPEAKER 09 :
In 30 seconds, what do you think went wrong? Just an opinion, what do you think happened?
SPEAKER 11 :
I think that 70% of airport collisions happened or aircraft collisions happened right at airports, and I think Murphy got the better. I don’t. think we know enough to blame the aircrew of either aircraft yet.
SPEAKER 09 :
Interesting. All right. Appreciate your expertise. That frees a line for you. I hope you’ll join us. 800-655-MIKE. Also making news, Bobby Kennedy Jr. yesterday, fiery testimony before the rabid Democrat senators. We’ll take you into that hearing a little bit next. There’s no better time than right now to call my friends at PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition to start your journey to a healthier you. As I hear from you about how PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition has changed your life, I know that each one of us has had our own reasons for starting. I started my journey because I gained enough weight and was ready to make a change. I sat down with Dr. Ashley Lucas, and like they say, the rest was history. I lost 53 pounds, and I’ve kept it off. We all have different reasons for starting. consultation. Call 864-644-1900, 864-644-1900, or just go to myphdweightloss.com, myphdweightloss.com. Mike Gallagher. We’re streaming live on X again today. We’re everywhere. Salem News Channel. We’re on hundreds of radio stations all over the country. If you’re new to the show, check out our website, mikeonline.com. It’s a good… A good clearinghouse of all kinds of information about what we do and why we do what we do. Going to talk to my buddy Joey Hudson tomorrow about law enforcement. I’ve been thinking a lot about the first responders to this air crash yesterday. The frigid waters of the Potomac. There’s divers that have been in there. What our first responders go through is unlike anything else. That any normal person has to experience. We completely lose sight of that. That’s why we publish the First Responders Bible, which is a King James version of the Bible as well as a spiritual fitness manual. And the executive director of Gallagher’s Heroes, the Fallen Officer Fund, Joey Hudson, is going to join us on the show tomorrow to talk a little bit about what we do in our foundation. Before we take some phone calls, and again, we’re standing by for President Trump. He has not yet approached the presidential podium, but when he does, we will take you to Washington so that we can see what the president has to say. Last night, he tweeted something like an ordinary Joe. I mean, he had an official statement on Truth Social about praying for the victims and this terrible, terrible tragedy. But then he also almost sort of conspiratorially said, gosh, you know, that helicopter appeared to aim straight for the jet. Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down? I mean, he’s like he is the people’s president. This is not a lifelong politician. This is not a career politician who, you know, pulls his punches. And he took to social media reacting the way, well, everybody was reacting. How did this happen? Why did it happen? This didn’t look right. Something went terribly wrong. And make no mistake, something went terribly wrong. And, you know, I want to just be fair and make sure that I’m even-handed in my criticism. for those who would politicize an event like this. It wasn’t just the loony left. There were people on our side. There were some people who wanted to blame, you know, DEI for the tragedy. Look, I mean, there’s a robust discussion about DEI policies in our government and in our country. When the bodies are still in the Potomac, That’s not a good time to go down that path. I mean, you can’t do that. Where’s our humanity here? Those are people’s family members on that plane. You think they want to hear about people saying, well, were there too many people of color in the air traffic control tower last night? Let’s just not… give up on having a modicum of compassion and some empathy for those families who are dealing with this horrific, horrific event. Dottie is in Ohio. Our number is 800-655-MIKE. Again, as soon as President Trump takes to the podium, we’ll take you there. Hey, Dottie, how are you?
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m okay. Like I said, I’m so upset. that I wish I can find those people that are blaming our president. Everything that he’s doing, I know, is for the best of the United States. People, illegal aliens, the people, whatever they did yesterday. Why do they have to bring him in the picture?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I mean, you’re asking a really reasonable question about why in the world… These people on the left don’t seem to want what’s best for America. Look at Bernie Sanders. I mean, they’re screaming at RFK Jr. RFK Jr. is committed to making America healthy again. lowering the cancer deaths, better food in our food chain, better ingredients, get rid of things that are hurting us. You’re against that? What did Bernie Sanders do? I’ve got to play this clip for you. This is astounding. This is Bernie Sanders, the lunatic, radical, unhinged socialist senator, More unusual than usual. More unhinged than usual. Here’s Bernie Sanders screaming about the onesies. He’s even got signs up. He’s got signs with little baby onesies asking Bobby Kennedy about the message on the signs.
SPEAKER 07 :
They are selling what’s called onesies. These are little things clothing for babies. One of them is titled, Unfaxed Unafraid. Next one, and they’re sold for 26 bucks apiece, by the way. Next one is no vax, no problem. Now, you’re coming before this committee and you say you are pro-vaccine. Just want to ask some questions. And yet your organization is making money selling a child’s product to parents for 26 bucks, which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines. Can you tell us now that you will, now that you are president, pro-vaccine, that you’re going to have your organization take these products off the market.
SPEAKER 08 :
Senator, I have no power over that organization. I’m not part of it. I resign from the board.
SPEAKER 07 :
That was just a few months ago. You founded that. You certainly have power. You can make that. Are you supportive of this? I’ve had nothing to do with leadership. Are you supportive of these onesies? I’m supportive of vaccines.
SPEAKER 09 :
Are you supportive of the onesies? My goodness, that’s a U.S. senator making a fool of himself on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, also in our nation’s capital right now. Breaking now on the Mike Gallagher Show. Here’s the 45th and 47th president of the United States addressing the nation over the deadly midair crash in Washington, D.C. Let’s go to the White House.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’d like to request a moment of silence for the victims and their families please. Thank you very much. I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation. Just before 9 p.m. last night, an American Airlines regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three military service members over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., while on final approach to Reagan National Airport. Both aircraft crashed instantly and were immediately submerged into the icy waters of the Potomac. Real tragedy. The massive search and rescue mission was underway throughout the night, leveraging every asset at our disposal. And I have to say, the local, state, federal, military, including the United States Coast Guard in particular, they’ve done a phenomenal job. So quick, so fast. It was mobilized immediately. The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors. This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions. As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. And we are a country of Really, we are in mourning. This is really shaking a lot of people, including people, very sadly, from other nations who were on the flight. For the family members back in Wichita, Kansas, here in Washington, D.C., and throughout the United States, and in Russia, we have a Russia contingent, some very talented people. Unfortunately, we’re on that plane. Very, very, very sorry about that. Whose loved ones were aboard the passenger jet, We can only begin to imagine the agony that you’re all feeling. Nothing worse. On behalf of the First Lady, myself, and 340 million Americans, our hearts are shattered alongside yours, and our prayers are with you now and in the days to come. We’ll be working very, very diligently in the days to come. We’re here for you to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love, and our support. There’s great support. In moments like this, the differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all, both as Americans and even as nations. We are one family, and today we are all heartbroken. We’re all searching for answers. That icy, icy Potomac. It was a cold, cold night. Cold water. We’re all overcome with the grief for many who have so tragically perished, will no longer be with us. Together, we take solace in the knowledge that their journey ended not in the cold waters of the Potomac, but in the warm embrace of a loving God. We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state those opinions now. Because over the years, I’ve watched as things like this happen, and they say, well, we’re always investigating. And then the investigation three years later, they announce it. We think we have some pretty good ideas. But we’ll find out how this disaster occurred, and we’ll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. The FAA and the NTSB and the U.S. military will be carrying out a systematic and comprehensive investigation. Our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, is second day on the job when that happened. It’s a rough one. We’ll be working tirelessly. He’s a great gentleman. The whole group is — these are great people. And they are working tirelessly to figure out exactly what happened. We will state certain opinions, however. I’m also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA, Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 09 :
So some breaking news with President Trump. We won’t miss a word of it. Don’t worry, we’ll pick up right where we left off. But appointing an acting commissioner of the FAA, the commander-in-chief, as consoler-in-chief over this terrible catastrophe at Reagan National Airport. Stay with us. More coming up. You know, there’s a cross that Mike Lindell of MyPillow wears around his neck. And for years, people have said, Mike, can we get that cross? And so I’m real proud to share with you that MyPillow is now offering the MyCross necklace. It’s a beautiful sterling silver cross, onyx-styled black enamel with a protective clear coat, mother-of-pearl-styled translucent white enamel. They’ve got a men’s size and a ladies’ size. The MyCross necklace is now available for you at MyPillow.com. If you go to MyPillow.com, look for the Mike Gallagher specials, and click on that box. You’re going to get a huge discount. I mean, big-time discount. In fact, you’re going to get, I think, $30 less of a price than what is available on the MyPillow site if you don’t go to MySquare. So if you want a beautiful gift, if you want to remind yourself what matters, if you want the same cross, it’s the same cross that Mike Lindell wears every day whenever you see him on TV, This cross is now available for you, and you’re going to get a huge discount when you enter the promo code MikeG. So go to MyPillow.com, look for the Mike Gallagher specials, click on that box, and then find the MyCross. There’s also all kinds of great items to get you the best night’s sleep of your life. Just don’t forget to enter the promo code MikeG so you’ll save big, and you’ve got to go to that square. Go to MyPillow.com, look for the Mike Gallagher specials, click on that box, and then with anything you order, enter the promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com, promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG or call 800-928-6034. 800-928-6034. Sing along with me. For the best night’s sleep in the whole wide world, visit MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG.
SPEAKER 08 :
The Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 04 :
One of the major fake newspapers, so in this case it’s not fake news, let’s say, but they said it’s the most consequential election victory in the last 129 years. I’m trying to figure out what that means, 120. Who was there 129 years ago?
SPEAKER 08 :
In the ReliefFactor.com studios, here’s Mike. Breaking now on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 09 :
Let’s go back to Washington, D.C. We promised we wouldn’t miss a word of the president-in-chief addressing the nation over this D.C. disaster. Here’s where we left off, the president at the presidential podium at the White House.
SPEAKER 03 :
We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system. I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary. You remember that. Only the highest aptitude… have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. That was not so prior to getting there. When I arrived in 2016, I made that change very early on because I always felt this was a job that, and other jobs too, but this was a job that had to be superior intelligence. And we didn’t really have that, and we had it. And then, when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse. So, as you know, last week, long before the crash, I signed an executive order restoring our highest standards for air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country. So it was very interesting. About a week ago, almost upon entering office, I signed something last week that was an executive order, a very powerful one, restoring the highest standards of air traffic controllers and others, by the way. Then my administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety. We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent, the word talent. They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses. You can’t have regular people doing that job. They won’t be able to do it. But we’ll restore faith in American air travel. I’ll have more to say about that. I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office. And here’s one. The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says, FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in and they want them They can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so. This was on January 14th, so that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA’s program. Then, another article, the Federal Aviation Administration. This was before I got to office, recently, second term. The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website. Can you imagine? These are people that are, I mean, actually, their lives are shortened because of the stress that they have. Brilliant people. have to be in those positions. And their lives are actually shortened, very substantially shortened, because of the stress, where you have many, many planes coming into one target. And you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it. Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring. The FAA’s website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot, a little dot on the map, a little runway. The initiative is part of the FAA’s diversity and inclusion hiring plan. Think of that. The initiative is part of the FAA’s diversity and inclusion hiring plan, which says diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I think it’s just the opposite. The FAA website shows that the agency’s guidance on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23rd of 22. They wanted to make it even more so. And then I came in, and I assume maybe this is the reason. The FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a real winner. That guy’s a real winner. Do you know how badly everything’s run since he’s run this Department of Transportation? He’s a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his government agency charge with regulating civil aviation. Well, he runs it, 45,000 people, and he’s run it right into the ground with his diversity. So I had to say that it’s terrible. Then it’s a group within the FAA, another story, determined that the workforce was too white. that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately. This was in the Obama administration just prior to my getting there. And we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans. We took care of everybody at levels that nobody has ever seen before. It’s one of the reasons I won. But they actually came out with a directive to white And we want the people that are competent. But now we mourn and we pray and would like to ask all Americans to join me in a moment of silence as we ask God to watch over those who have lost their lives and bring comfort to the loved ones. And I just want to say God bless everyone in this room. This has been a terrible, very short period of time. We’ll get to the bottom of it. So, we all saw the same thing. We’ve seen it many times. I’ve had the honor of hearing tapes. Tapes are scary, very scary tapes. You had an airliner coming in, American Airlines. He was doing everything right. He was on track. He was the same track as everybody else that came in. It’s probably the same track as they’ve had for 25 years or more. He’s coming in the path. And for some reason, he had a helicopter that was at the same height, obviously when they hit, but pretty much the same height, and going at an angle that was unbelievably bad when the air traffic controller… From the White House.
SPEAKER 09 :
Of course, moments ago I said not a good idea to bring up DEI, and he went full scale. You know, that’s President Trump. Maybe nobody noticed my comments. Look, I had a good run. I really did. I had a nice run as a talk show host. All right, more coming up. President Trump addressing the nation with a combination of frustration over the DEI policies of the FAA and mourning the loss. Stick around. More coming up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hi, everyone. If you’ve been injured in an accident that was not your fault, listen up. We have legal professionals standing by to answer your questions for free. Call now and find out if you have a case and how much it’s potentially worth. Call 800-702-5400. I’m here with spokesman John Wolf. So John, tell everyone listening who should call right now.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, Maria, first off, thank you for having me here. It’s always nice to answer the listeners’ questions. Now, as far as who should call in, anyone who’s been injured in an accident and think you deserve compensation, give us a call right now. 800-702-5400. You’ll find out if you have a case and how much it’s potentially worth.
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Thanks, John. You heard it, folks. Take advantage of this opportunity and call now. 800-702-5400.
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Mike Gallagher. Every day, Mike visits with Mark Davis. Morning host on 660 AM, The Answer in Dallas. Here’s today’s M&M experience.
SPEAKER 09 :
Look, we got a lot to cover today. And of course, just our hearts are so heavy. We all went to bed last night with the grim, grim news that this unthinkable thing happened at Reagan. You know, I was obviously those of us went to the inauguration. We just went out in and out of Reagan. And you I know you’ve gone in and out of Reagan many, many times. There is an issue about its location, its proximity to the district, and how really harrowing every approach is into Reagan National. And it has to do largely with the lawmakers who love the airport being right where it is.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is a badly placed harrow. harrowing i don’t say dangerous airport but it’s it’s it ain’t ideal it’ll never move because the other the other washington airport uh option is dulles which is 45 minutes out to the west which would make perfect sense but nobody in congress hello or anybody in the cabinet or anybody at the white house wants to schlep all the way out to dulles they want to go across the bridge and be at national in 15 minutes which you can do
SPEAKER 09 :
I was talking to my seatmate going into Reagan last week for the inauguration, and I said, now watch this approach. It’s going to be really intriguing. And it is. They bank one way. We’re going to get pilots on the show today as well. I’m going to catch up with my buddy Captain Will Smith. of Will Smith Aviation here in Tampa Bay, Florida. He’s gone in and out of Reagan many times. And your pilots, I’ve been listening to your pilots talking about their experience. And I’ve been struck about North Texas because as I understand it, the community that Denise and the kids and I called home, Southlake, was largely built because of the presence of American Airlines at DFW.
SPEAKER 10 :
From Southlake to ULIS to… You know, the DFW, I guess, kicked off circa 1971. The number of human beings that were going to be employed there, it is its own city. And so it, of course, affected development within a 10 mile radius, to be sure.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. Yeah. Let’s talk about the ugliness of this awful, awful catastrophe. And that is the politicization of an airplane crash. I mean, and look, our side isn’t immune from it. Let’s just stipulate we had people, we had knuckleheads on our side saying, oh, DEI, DEI in the control tower. Not the time. The bodies aren’t even out of the river yet. And to weaponize an event like this, to try to score political points one way or the other, I’m not trying to be holier than thou, but knock it off. And, you know, from the Nashville journalist who was blasting Trump, and then he took the Post down to… What did he say?
SPEAKER 10 :
What are you talking about?
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, same crap about Trump’s policies, hiring freezes and all this nonsense. I mean, the man’s been in office nine days. There’s nothing Trump has done in a week and a half that could have anything to do with what happened last night.
SPEAKER 10 :
And yet, because I think you’re going to go to one post and I’ll let you share it because you very kindly attached me to it. And as an example of Trump hatred, making nice people mean and smart people stupid. But as I went to bed last night, I had a political thought of my own, and I had a thought about the aftermath of this under Trump and Pete Hagseth with the Department of Defense and Sean Duffy at Transportation, and I found myself grateful that we do have an administration that I believe in the fog of speculation and with the mystery of an impending investigation and so many questions, I have the confidence that we have an administration that will shoot straight with us, and that’s confidence I have not had for four years. We talked about this a couple of days ago. It took Caroline Leavitt like 30 seconds at the thing to say, oh, the drones were totally ours. The FAA knew it, and they just didn’t tell you. So we find… And why didn’t they? And why didn’t they?
SPEAKER 09 :
What could possibly… I’m not asking that as a rhetorical question. Why would they keep that from the American people? I mean, the Trump administration took five minutes to say, here’s what this was. The Biden administration kept us in the dark. Why?
SPEAKER 10 :
So I’m grateful that we’ve got people in power now, that as we go through tough times like this, which we will, that we have… I really believe we have people who, if there’s something squirrely about the military aircraft or those pilots… or anything that we learn that’s nefarious or weird or strange. We have an open and transparent administration, at last, that will shoot straight with us. And now here’s Mike with someone who feels differently. You want to go ahead? And I hate to give idiots like this attention.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I don’t even like to give it a lot of oxygen. In fact, the problem is I’m really making some editorial decisions today. For example, when I take to the air with Salem News Channel and the video side of what we do, not unlike what we’re doing right now on X, I refuse to let my team, play any video of the actual impact and I thought about this when I went to bed last night and I’ll tell you why somebody’s wife was on that plane somebody’s husband somebody’s dad son there were there are loved ones there are at least well I’m sure it sounds like there are 68 souls that died that moment I don’t like playing that. I don’t want to show that impact. I understand we are in the information business and we can analyze and we can break things down. But I told Christian, no video of the crash. Because of where it is, there are already tons of videos that have been released. You know, there was a webcam from the Kennedy Center. And admittedly, I will tell you, and you and I talked about this last night, One of the videos appears to show the helicopter streaking across the sky directly into the jet. Like one of your pilots said, you don’t have a lot of leverage on how you’re doing the approach. In fact, did the pilot, incidentally, quick diversion here, and pardon me for, I digress. Did the pilot tell you I refuse to go in on runway 33?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, he said, I don’t want to do 33 at Reagan National. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
They’re allowed to do, the pilots can do that?
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s what I said. You get to wave off somebody.
SPEAKER 09 :
Wow, the power. Look, I don’t want to question his veracity there, but that seems like a really hinky system. Well, I don’t feel like flying in on runway 29 today. Give me 27. What? You go where they tell you to go or else you’re going to have chaos. I don’t quite understand that.
SPEAKER 10 :
I don’t think you get to do it on the fly, so to speak, like with 30 seconds to spare, but maybe well in advance.
SPEAKER 09 :
Maybe he picks it out.
SPEAKER 10 :
On the imagery, you brought up something really important that I support you on 100%. Is such a video newsworthy? Of course it is. So if you have a news network, and obviously Salem News Channel is a news network, but we’re running talk shows all day like yours, et cetera. So is there justification in showing it on a CNN, a Fox News? Yes, there is. And for loved ones, I might say don’t watch cable news because you might see your loved ones die on TV 14 times. Now, the thing is, though, however, but is the decision you’ve made. Here we are morning after you’re showing B-roll alongside your discussions. Do you need to show it 35 times? No, you don’t. And that is a very thoughtful and proper decision that you have made.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I’m also not going to play the interview, a heartbreaking interview. And I just got emotional when I saw this poor young husband who was interviewed by a reporter at Reagan who was getting texts from his wife on the plane moments before they landed. And he’s showing the reporter her texts. And I thought, I can’t even begin. Look. All of us have had loss in our lives. We’ve all experienced heartache. This poor guy is telling the reporter, I haven’t heard anything. I hope they’re pulling her out of the water. Now, I’m not going to exploit that. I’m just not going to play that. I told Christian, every day we go through a process of what videos we’re going to show, what we’re going to air, what we’re not. I’m not airing that. Rightfully so.
SPEAKER 10 :
But I’m just going to throw in as journalism 101. I would throw in. Does a reporter get to ask somebody that? Yes. And the guy, the guy with a loved one on the plane can say, you know, get lost. Or if he does talk to the cameras and the microphones, that is something you can run.
SPEAKER 09 :
Now, this, however— But like you said, let’s—but wait a minute, real quick. Let’s stipulate, and you said something that’s important, and I want to reiterate this. We’re different. We’re a talk show. We do cover breaking news, what to make of it all, but it’s our show, and we can make editorial decisions. And I just—I’m just going to respect the families right now. There are 68 families right now that are going through the unimaginable, and I just want to respect that.
SPEAKER 10 :
And they deserve better than this. I’m not even going to mention the guy’s name. He shows up on social media every once in a while. Shocker. Trump hater. So whatever. And shares this. Needless to say, at a time like this, you really wish you had some confidence that the head of the DOD, Department of Defense, had some clue of how to lead an organization. A Blackhawk right on the Pentagon’s back porch and in the approach path of a major domestic airport? We need answers. Shut up, you moron. Taking this moment to bag on what all Pete Hegseth has done is said, look, prayers for everybody we’re going to get to the bottom of this investigation’s underway which is exactly the proper thing to do so just i literally it’s the mark davis it’s the mark davis nice people get smart people stupid pray for people who are this bent pray for people whose petty stupid political hatreds lead them to post garbage like this
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and they should largely be ignored. Yesterday, also in Washington, D.C., of course, Bobby Kennedy Jr. I’ve got a little bit of a different take than you do. I sense a little bit of reticence on your part. I thought he was spectacular.
SPEAKER 10 :
He was great.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, good, good.
SPEAKER 10 :
He batted it down with enormous skill. They tried to poke at him, and he was hitting home run.
SPEAKER 09 :
How about Bernie with the onesie? I know. Look at these onesies.
SPEAKER 10 :
It says, no vax, no problem. Do you support these onesies?
SPEAKER 09 :
Do you support the onesies? And Megyn Kelly was in the background. She was over Bobby Kennedy’s right shoulder. And it was classic because you saw Megyn just laughing hysterically. Now, Bernie Sanders thought that was such a good idea. He had signs made and everything of the onesies. Do you like the onesies? Will you take these off the market? Will you take them off the market? My gosh. If that doesn’t guarantee his confirmation, I don’t know what does. But here’s the problem. We’re going to go back to Mitch McConnell. We’re going to go back to Susan Collins. We’re going to go back to Lisa Murkowski. And it’s only going to take one more. And he doesn’t make it. And that’s going to be a big, big blow.
SPEAKER 10 :
And you know who it might be? Republican Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who is a doctor. and has that doctor’s ego thing going. And by the way, if you are a doctor, you deserve to have a pretty big ego. But this, I don’t know. I think that I don’t trust these people.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, but let’s admit, doctors always have outsized egos.
SPEAKER 10 :
You know what? If you survive medical school and you have life, in fact, and pardon this quick aside, I mentioned The Pit, the show that’s on, I don’t know what, the PITT with Noah Wiley from ER. Oh, yeah. Third episode of that. It is so incredible and it gives you the thought, this is people’s lives every day. Life, they save lives. They see life end. There’s an older gentleman.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, please. I put my life on the line every day with this show. Come on. I’m risking life and limb.
SPEAKER 10 :
P-I-T-T. I think it’s on HBO Max or some such. Noah Wiley. It is fantastic.
SPEAKER 09 :
And the Kennedy thing comes down to one thing. They just don’t trust him on his vaccine skepticism. And he shares the same skepticism we all do. I did a thing yesterday. Should I get a flu shot or not? 98% of people on social media said it’s got the mRNA. You’re going to have an eyeball. People don’t like that, and I’m not getting it. You know what I did yesterday? I was in the chair. I got my IV treatment. I got my flu kicker. Your chelation mic shows up now. Oh, yeah. I’m in the red room. I got laser beams. I got laser beams. I got light. No, I’m not doing the flu shot. That’s for me. But, you know, hey, like they say, my body, my choice.
SPEAKER 10 :
So you’ll do that witch doctor chelation stuff, but no flu shot. And I’m kidding.
SPEAKER 09 :
I’m half kidding. Half kidding. Half kidding. Now, today, this week, we got to get ready for Tulsi Gabbard. Yes. The secret vote. How’s that going to go? I think it’ll be. I got. I don’t know. I got doubts about that. Kash Patel, get out the popcorn.
SPEAKER 10 :
What are your doubts about Tulsi’s worthiness or doubts about whether she’ll succeed?
SPEAKER 09 :
As I understand, the Tulsi Gabbard vote is the one that will be held in secret. Now, why that is, I don’t quite fully understand that. But no one’s going to have to answer whether they voted or not. Yeah, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
SPEAKER 10 :
I better know exactly how my senator and every senator deal on everything.
SPEAKER 09 :
We got a new administration with a ton of transparency, and you nailed it. Trump posted something on social media last night. It’s like he’s just like a guy. He’s not the president. You talk about the people’s president. I mean, we were all doing this, speculating about what did this look like. And that’s what he did. He said the helicopter went straight for the plane, and why didn’t it go up? Why didn’t it go down? But that’s a normal average American asking, how could this happen? And it’s our president. Sorry. We love that. We love that about him. So here we go. All right. Well, prayers out for everybody involved and the first responders who are doing an amazing job. So God bless them all. All right. Hang in there, Mark.
SPEAKER 10 :
Appreciate you. Mike, show starts as soon as we’re done at 10 right here on 660 AM. The answer.
SPEAKER 08 :
Download the podcast and hear all of Mike and Mark’s conversations at MikeOnline.com for the M&M experience.
