Masks allowed at US airports 2:35
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(CNN) -
It feels like every day we read about another rowdy passenger on a commercial flight.
But in reality, the numbers are even worse than that.
Since January, the Federal Aviation Administration has recorded approximately 2,900 reports of "rebellious passenger behavior", equivalent to almost 18 incidents per day.
In perspective, this is almost 20 times higher than what is normally recorded in an entire year.
As the head of one of the flight attendant unions recently explained, there has been a "constant combative attitude" on the part of some passengers which has alarmingly caused flight attendants to be attacked and injured.
Just last month, a passenger punched a Southwest flight attendant in the face and knocked out two of her teeth.
Are we getting more brutal as a people?
Has the isolation caused by covid-19 restrictions made us less courteous?
Maybe.
But another fact about these incidents tells us that there may be something else likely to contribute to the aggression: Trumpism.
As the FAA has reported, of the 2,900 rebellion incidents, about 2,200 of those reports involved passengers "who refused to comply with the federal mask mandate."
Who publicly mocked people for wearing masks? Oh yes, Donald Trump. There are numerous examples of how the former president publicly ridicules people for wearing the mask after the US Centers for Disease Control announced guidelines in April 2020 urging us to use them to prevent the spread of the virus. In May 2020, Trump ridiculed a reporter during a press conference for wearing a mask, claiming that the reporter was only doing it "to be politically correct." Trump also mocked then-candidate Joe Biden for modeling responsible behavior by wearing a mask in public. Trump even criticized Fox News' Laura Ingraham at a campaign rally in October 2020 for wearing a mask, accusing her of "being very politically correct."
True, Trump occasionally made some, just a few, comments in favor of the mask. But now, even with Trump out of office, some of his most visible supporters have continued their war on face coverings. One of the most despicable has been Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who last month compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's requirement that members of Congress wear a mask when on the precinct floor to the Nazis who forced Jews to wear "gold" stars during the Holocaust.
Some Republican governors, like Kristi Noem of South Dakota, made it a badge of honor by deciding not to impose a mask mandate on their states. Although she did not make inflammatory comments like Greene, Noem shared a photo in January 2021 of herself in a room full of people without masks.
In March, several elected officials from the Idaho Republican Party, including the state's lieutenant governor, joined supporters in publicly burning masks, equating the act with the Boston Tea Party. (The way settlers protesting the British tea tax relate to wearing a mask to protect the health of others is only something that mask burners can explain.) And in early June, Republican Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, who called himself "Trump's number one ally in Ohio," burned his mask in a video he tweeted with the word "freedom."
It is not about freedom. It's about selfishness. Trumpism is many things, from white nationalism to cruelty, but it is also a celebration of a toxic form of selfishness. Wearing a mask has been to protect other people from the virus, especially since asymptomatic people can carry and spread the disease. As the CDC guidelines explain, "Masks work best when everyone wears one." But that means nothing to those who do not consider the health of their fellow citizens.
It's impossible to know for sure how many of the 2,200 passenger incidents rebelling over the masks are Trump supporters.
What is clear is that President Joe Biden has set an example, repeatedly urging people to wear masks and doing it himself until the CDC announced in May that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to do so in certain situations.
We also know that some of those who have caused a disturbance on a flight when asked to wear masks are self-identifying Trump supporters.
For example, in January two women in pro-Trump hats were asked to leave the plane after refusing to wear masks.
One of them addressed 'the N word' to a black female passenger several times as she left the cabin.
In October, another Trump supporter was escorted off a flight for refusing the flight attendant's repeated request to put the mask over his mouth and nose, but he had no problem wearing his pro-Trump hat.
And in April, Republican Alaska State Senator Lora Reinbold was indefinitely expelled from Alaska Airlines for "her continued refusal" to comply with requests from airline employees that she wear a mask.
Even beyond the mask incidents, other self-proclaimed Trump supporters in January projected a large Trump logo inside the plane's cabin mid-flight, while some shouted obscenities at other objectionable passengers.
Disturbingly, we can likely expect more anti-mask-related incidents on airplanes, given that the Transportation Security Administration recently extended the face mask requirement at airports and on board commercial airplanes until September 13.
Those who hate masks should know that the penalty for those who behave in a rebellious manner could be much more than being escorted out of a flight.
The FAA's "zero tolerance" policy for such conduct has resulted in the agency seeking fines of $ 9,000 to $ 15,000 against individual passengers.
The question is, will the risk of heavy fines trump Trumpism-inspired selfishness?
We can only hope this is the case for the safety of the flight crews and other passengers.
But even though Trump is no longer in the White House, we can hope that we will be dealing with the lingering toxicity of his legacy in the near future, if not longer.
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