Guy who flew Presidents speaks on President Tiny Hands
Ron Wagner, I met Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41 & Trump.
Updated Sun
I’ll probably be the only person answering this question who has met six U.S. Presidents, including the one in question, so maybe I have a deeper perspective.
The short answer is NO, but before I explain about meeting so many Presidents, let me add a quick sidebar.
So, whoever asked this question, I’d like to ask you one: Is there, seriously, anyone in this country who respects Trump?
Do you?
If you respect that man, rather than ask questions like this, have the convictions to come out and state your respect and proudly give the reasons. Why are you reluctant to put your respect for him on record?
THE FIRST FIVE
Long before meeting Trump, I had met and flown the first five on that list up there as my “credential.” I did not fly Air Force One, but I was a pilot in the 89th at Andrews AFB in DC.
I flew Richard Nixon on his first trip back into the public spotlight after his exile.
I flew Gerald Ford when he was a “former” POTUS. I flew Betty Ford and two of his kids, Steven and Susan, while he was POTUS—in other words, they were First Family.
I met Jimmy Carter while he was POTUS, but didn’t fly him until afterward. I flew Rosalynn twice while she was First Lady, and both of them after his term. I flew Carter’s mother, Miss Lillian, and brother Billy while they were First Family.
I flew Ronald Reagan before he was POTUS.
I flew George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, while he was Director of the CIA, then I flew them both when he was VP.
And so, there I sat, with bragging rights of meeting and flying five Presidents and three First Ladies, and several family members.
They were all worthy of respect, well, maybe not Billy. But everyone else!
THE SIXTH ONE
Oddly, even after I left Andrews, my connection with future Presidents continued when I flew for Eastern Air Lines, based at Washington National, just across the river from my former home base. I mostly flew the Eastern Shuttle between DCA and LGA, in New York. During that time I flew Trump several times, never giving him much thought because we flew just about everybody famous you could think of. He was just one more, and not really very famous. More like infamous.
In 1989, Eastern went bankrupt and Trump offered to buy the Shuttle. He seemed sleazy to me, but I went to the meeting he held to sell his pitch to the pilots.
From behind those beady, hollow eyes, and through that weird, squarish mouth of his, he made a glowing pitch. The phrase I recall the most is, “I’m going to run it like a diamond. Like an absolute diamond.” I still cringe at the way he said the word “diamond.” It made his mouth pucker up even squarer and he did that thing with his hands. Ugggghhhhhh. Creepy.
If his sleaziness didn’t drive me away his “diamond” dreams would have. I’d flown the Shuttle for years and knew the rich and the famous and they all rode the Shuttle for one reason: a fast trip between NYC and DC. We were in the air about 35 minutes. There was no demand for, nor time for, any kind of “diamond” service. They just wanted a no-fuss seat and not to be bothered while they read the WSJ.
I declined Trump’s offer.
He bought the Eastern Shuttle—like everything he bought—with highly leveraged borrowed funds. In less than two years, the truth was out.
While he owned it, he formed one of those hundreds (thousands?) of pop-up corporations, to which he sold one Boeing 727 for practically nothing and then made the Shuttle lease it back. When he bankrupted the Shuttle, his leasing company got to keep the one jet, which he painted up as the first big TRUMP jet. And somehow he also got to keep 12 million in cash.
I flew this jet when it belonged to Eastern, before Trump stole it with manipulative corporate shuffling. Of course he touted it as a symbol of his enormous wealth, when in reality it was a symbol of his debased soul. In essence, his bankruptcy creditors paid for it.
Here’s a weird aspect of the Trump Shuttle. Trump designed new pilot uniforms and they looked like business suits and the official uniform tie was bright red—you know, like a Trump “power tie.” He wanted an army of little Trumpkins flying the planes with his name on them. It was disconcerting to me to see former crew members with their red ties. They looked more like clowns than professionals.We’d have all blown a gasket if we’d known we were flying a future President. Or maybe thrown up.
THE DILEMMA OF MY LIFE
So, now, if the topic of my past comes up, I lie and tell people I flew five Presidents. I do not want to contaminate the names of the five good ones I flew with the filth of mentioning the sixth.
I never thought I’d have so much respect for Richard Nixon! |
