'Grandstanding' Republicans slammed for 'coddling' violent airline passengers

On Monday, the Washington Post editorial board criticized the nine Republican lawmakers who are trying to derail a no-fly list aimed at making sure that violent passengers are banned from all airlines.

With the CEO of Delta Airlines imploring the Justice Department to work with Congress on restricting the ability of passengers with a history of unruliness from moving from airline to airline, the GOP senators sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland worrying that the list could be used on those who aggressively resist wearing masks despite airline in-flight rules.

According to the Washington Post, the GOP lawmakers, which include Sens. Ted Cruz (TX) and Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, are "grandstanding" to appease the GOP base which has opposed government mandates while they "coddle" unruly individuals.

The editors wrote, "The federal government does not maintain an official “no-brainer list” of policies. If it did, there’s a good chance many Americans would applaud if one were a rule barring violent, unruly and disruptive airline passengers from the skies, before adding, "Nonetheless, some Republicans in Washington are grandstanding, rejecting no-nonsense measures to keep passengers and crews safe on airlines."

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Listing off the names of all the Republicans who signed onto the letter, the board dubbed them the "Aviation Threat Forgiveness Caucus."

"The senators’ tortured logic is that a no-fly list for unruly passengers opposed to onboard mask mandates 'would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland,' as they wrote in their letter. The key word there is 'seemingly,' which the senators stretch beyond its breaking point," the editors wrote before suggesting how the list could be set up.

They then concluded, "But most people are clear on the difference between a terrorist and a miscreant who assaults a flight attendant. And most are equally certain that both pose a threat and should be banned from the skies."

You can read the whole piece here.