After 35 days, Trump’s government shutdown over funding for his border wall (that Mexico was supposed to pay for) ended yesterday when air traffic controllers (who had now missed two paychecks) called in sick in great enough numbers to impact air travel.
Pressure had been building on Trump and the Republicans as stories of safety and national security issues grew alongside tales of human tragedies due to the shutdown, a problem which the public put squarely on their shoulders.
That pressure became too great, however — especially for some Republican senators — when flights began being delayed and cancelled, and a ground stop was called at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Trump appeared at the White House to announce a “deal” to reopen the government for three weeks, but came away with nothing (except, perhaps, pleasing Putin).
Though it did prove once again that fixed barriers, such as walls, are no match for airpower.
The only potential benefit Trump got out of this humiliation at Nancy Pelosi’s hand was its potential to distract from the news of the arrest of his long-time friend and advisor Roger Stone who was indicted by Robert Mueller in the Russia probe.
The seven-count indictment against Stone clears for takeoff the connection between the Trump campaign and the WikiLeaks dissemination of the Russian-hacked DNC and Podesta emails.
Between the right-wing Trump base fuming over the complete cave he pulled on the wall and the ever-tightening Mueller noose, Trump has become such a lame duck he may only have one more flight left in him, the one seeking asylum in Moscow.
To celebrate the job action by air traffic controllers, who finally got a bit of payback for Reagan busting PATCO nearly 38 years ago, have an Aviation cocktail.
Although it has fallen out of favor a bit, the Aviation helped kick off the cocktail renaissance when Eric Seed at Haus Alpenz brought back the liqueur Creme de Violette.
After Prohibition, this ingredient went missing, which kind made the drink originated in the nineteen teens a bit of a head scratcher. It needs the blue tint from the Creme de Violette to make sense as an ode to the sky from the early days of flight.
From the recipe page at Haus Alpenz, the Aviation is:
2 oz London dry gin
.5 oz Maraschino liqueur
.5 oz lemon juice
.25 oz Creme de Violette
Shake over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.
Cheers!
Gin & Bitters 