Fox News commentator Harris Faulkner went all in on Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's ongoing threat to pull customs officers out of airports in sanctuary cities — a plan that, if enacted, could cause widespread collapse of the national air traffic system and mass flight cancellations.
"The latest DHS list of sanctuary cities includes Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco," said Faulkner. "All of those airports handle 1,100 international flights per day. They're not just gonna not fly. They're going to go to red states and cities. A boon for red states. People will hate living in blue states."
This remark was immediately met with scorn from observers on social media.
"This is idiotic," wrote American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. "No, if you cancel international flights to those cities, they are NOT going to be diverted to red cities. Those airports are already operating near full capacity, and could not even remotely handle the volume! Instead, there would be mass flight cancellations."
"It's really hard to understand how people can be this monumentally stupid," wrote Ron Filipkowski of Meidas Touch. "This will never, ever happen. Flights are not going to be diverted by airlines to red states. Idiocracy."
"Is she always this obtuse?" wrote Harvard Kennedy School professor and national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. "The planes are not going to red states since the blue city airports in red states are already at capacity. The planes will be canceled. And it will become apparent real fast that crashing the economy of blue states will hurt the taker red states more."
"It's not just that people like Harris Faulkner and Markwayne Mullin are evil and extremely stupid," wrote Aaron Rupar of Public Notice. "It's that they are unshakably confident in their brilliance while in fact being evil and extremely stupid."
"Make sure not to tell them about all those critical House races in states like Pennsylvania, New York, California, and Michigan," wrote Greg Sargent of The New Republic.
"I'd bet a lot that this Trump administration 'no flights to New York or Los Angeles' rule won't apply to private jets," wrote former George W. Bush presidential speechwriter David Frum.
"These people are walking, talking head injuries," wrote author and conspiracy theory analyst Mike Rothschild. "Do they really think independent-leaning suburban voters are just not going to fly internationally anymore to own the libs? The GOP lives or dies on the outskirts of major cities, and doing this would be insane."