MAGA Trolls Swarm Rep. Jim Clyburn After He Warns of a Possible Elon Musk Takeover of Federal Aviation Administration
James Clyburn, the 84-year-old Democratic congressman from South Carolina, is facing an uproar from MAGA after speaking about the dangers of handing over the Federal Aviation Administration to Elon Musk.
Clyburn posted a warning on X, expressing concerns held by many over a possible privatization of the FAA. The backlash was swift. Donald Trump supporters moved at breakneck speed to quash any criticism of Trump and his administration, branding Clyburn — who served as House Majority Whip twice — “a loser liar” and an “idiot.” Many called on him to resign, and in some cases, threatened lawsuits.
“How many years have you been in office? How much of our tax dollars have you pocketed? Have you paid your retainer for your defense team yet?” wrote one commenter.
“He’s firing DEI hires. Be glad Congress still uses DEI,” warned another, followed up by “You’re the angriest black man in Congress, Jimmy. Nobody’s handing anything over. The Spaces [team] is partnering with the ATCs to help improve their systems, since nobody has done that in decades. Not everything is a damn crisis.”
“Clayborn [sic] is an idiot robot that just spews whatever master tells him to,” another said.
Clyburn, the only Democratic member of the South Carolina congressional delegation, has seen his fair share of backlash, but the cancel culture was shockingly swift after his Feb. 17 tweet, with 4,000 comments and counting within hours of posting.
Several recent aviation disasters and air-related incidents have stunned the public, leading to heightened scrutiny of the FAA. In 2025 alone, four deadly plane crashes claimed the lives of at least 85 people. Yet on Feb. 14, Trump and Musk fired hundreds of FAA employees, downplaying safety concerns, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeting that none of those terminated performed “safety-critical functions.”
On Feb. 16, before the long President’s Day weekend was over, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that a team from Musk’s SpaceX would be deployed the next day to the air traffic command center in Virginia as the first step in a revamp. They’ll “get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system,” Duffy, a former cast member on MTV’s “The Real World,” wrote in his tweet.
Duffy stressed that he is seeking “advice” and “help” from SpaceX and that his “door at @USDOT is open to any and all patriotic developers or companies.”
SpaceX, which manufactures and launches rockets, satellites, and other spacecraft, has sought out many federal contracts in recent years, winning an estimated $22 billion from the Department of Defense, according to Reuters. One of its biggest Pentagon contracts is for $733 million to launch satellites into space.
On Rep. Clyburn’s post, one ominously noted, “This is what happens in oligarchies. The dictator at the top hands over control of certain industries to wealthy private citizens.” But the vast majority of comments shared @hill_crypto11’s enthusiasm: “The dude launches and CATCHES rockets.”
The debate continues.
