On “CBS Mornings” Wednesday, Gayle King asked Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines, if he was concerned by what she referred to as the Trump administration’s firing of “many employees of the FAA.”

She went on to imply, without evidence, that the recent plane crashes might have had something to do with those actions. “After looking at all these mishaps,” King said, wearing a concerned expression, “A lot of people are very nervous.”

Bastian was having none of that.

He said there had been less than 400 support-staff job cuts in an agency that employs some 50,000 and that he was satisfied they had no impact on safety and that hirings were soon to follow.

“The Trump administration has committed to investing deeply in terms of improving the overall technologies that are used in the air traffic control systems and modernizing the skies,” he said. “They’ve committed to hiring additional controllers and investigators, and safety and investigators. So no, I’m not concerned with that at all.”

For those on the right who look for evidence of media bias, the exchange was red meat, especially since King looked shocked, even disappointed, by Bastian’s unequivocal answer, countering a dominant narrative that the new administration was destroying any and all responsibilities of the federal government.

Worse for King, this was not some administration operative, or even a political appointee such as the new secretary of transportation, Sean Duffy. This was the CEO of one of America’s largest airlines and someone who surely would be sounding an alarm if there was new reason to worry about the safety of the nation’s skies.

In fact, he was doing the opposite, stating the opinion that the FAA has long been limited by outdated technological equipment and that the new administration had committed to rectifying that situation.

At the same time, though, he was also making the point that there has been no evidence yet presented by the National Transportation Safety Board or any other such body that problems at the FAA had contributed to the recent incidents either at Washington Reagan Airport or this week in Toronto, which is, of course, under Canadian jurisdiction. Both of those incidents are under investigation and, even allowing for them, Bastian was of course right to point out that air travel remains far and away the safest mode of mechanized transportation in the United States.

We say King was doing her job and asking a question on everyone’s mind, whatever the look on her face. But we’re also glad Bastian batted it down. After former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who should know better, tried to score some political points with his base by making a similar vague implication, Duffy said on X Thursday that the Trump administration plans to invest major new resources and immediately overhaul “our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system.”

If we were in less polarized times, we’d all be cheering that initiative and, more importantly, holding this administration to that promise. Especially since we all know they don’t always keep their promises. It would also not be controversial to assert that talking to some of Elon Musk’s SpaceX technical team, and letting them look at the FAA’s wheezing technology, is not an inherently bad idea. There are some smart people there. They may have some good ideas for improvement.

We share much of the alarm at the activities, and the modus operandi, of the Department of Government Efficiency, commonly known as DOGE. And we abhor Trump’s appalling implication that “DEI” was likely responsible for the crashes. No evidence has been presented of that, either. He should have remained silent.

But the situation with the FAA is a reminder that critical thinkers know that more than one thing can be true at once.

The Trump administration can be setting about trying to destroy some of the crucial functions of the federal government even as they also try to improve at least one of them, the agency that keeps us safe in the skies. Smart Democrats will oppose policies that harm Americans and weaken the nation while supporting initiatives that enhance safety and strengthen the country.

Otherwise, it will be a very long four years that could leave the country in rubble.

Clearly, Delta’s Bastian understands that all too well and had the courage to say so. Good for him.

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