A Flying Circus

Have you heard of project 2025? (No, that’s not the name of Aspen’s new airport plan.) Remember Trump’s first term? Specifically, when he showed up at the White House with his troupe of misfit carnies, asking where the coffee maker was… Government desks and departments left empty for months— even years, as the narcissist took more interest in his Twitter POTUS sign-on than anything actually presidential.

Well, this time his minions are busy recruiting newly minted bureaucrats who want to run away and join the circus. The government workers who would normally remain in their position throughout different administrations to ensure expertise and consistency, will all be replaced with blindly loyal, ham-fisted clowns. Project 2025 is an open call for positions with organizations like NOAA or NASA: No experience necessary! Because Trump wants to control time and space by using a sharpie on the constitution.

I use a sharpie for my job. As a greeter at the Aspen airport, I stand alongside the fancy hotel employees with their ipads displaying the name of the passenger for pickup, while holding a clipboard with the name (usually an alias) written in sharpie on old-school white copy paper. Hey, it works, and part of the charm of flying into Aspen is that it looks like it has my whole life.

One of the best things about the town where I was born was the way it remained true to itself through all the boom-and-bust storms that blew through. From silver prospectors to ranchers, bikers to cokehead skiers, Aspen welcomed everyone who found their way to this little picturesque town in the Rocky Mountains. And in the beginning of the end, it was still a great place to go to get away from the celebrity looky-loos. Stars could pull up a bar stool and have an anonymously good time like the rest of us. Aspen was a great equalizer, just like the TSA today.

Boy, those gals do not care where you’re from or how much you brought to the party, they will pat you down like a repeat offender in county jail. Over the years, I’ve greeted rock stars to generals, Hollywood royalty to middle eastern heirs, and they all seem perfectly content with our smalltown airport vibe. Of course, my greets fly commercial. I can’t speak for the other half (83%??) flying private down the road at ABO.

These days private jets flock to Sardy Field like pigeons on a croissant. I get it; the rich can’t help but wealth-appropriate the customs and rituals of Roaring Fork locals. After all, they come and look around at the rest of us having a good time, it makes sense they want some of that… Unfortunately, they end up running the fun right out of town by upping the cost of everything, and that’s how a town loses its luster.

But don’t feel bad for the billionaires. They have it pretty good in this country where the rich get richer, while the poor get taxed. Using taxpayer money for a new runway, sure, but adjusting to accommodate larger private jets leaves a taste in the mouth of petit fours. And the bigger issue with increasing private plane traffic is the lack of workforce. Who is going to land and service all these VIPs? Maybe Pitkin County can adopt a Willy Wonka system where they insert golden tickets into protein bars and if you’re the lucky finder, then you get to report to work at 5:00am in the dark winter mornings.

“Wake up and smell the coffee, Mrs. Bueller. It’s a fool’s paradise. He is just leading you down the primrose path.” -Edward R Rooney.

Speaking of fools, I would really like for the media to stop normalizing a felon running for office. Trump has done nothing but lie, cheat, and steal to get his paradise, built on the backs of all the working-class Joes he swindled. He has no qualifications, and no civil motivations on his wannabe-a-billionaire ticket. He will be the first president to be convicted of felony charges, the first one to be openly cancelling votes, and I’m sure, the first to land Air Force One on our tax-funded tarmac.

Reject Project 2025.