As America’s aviation system ground to a halt, President Donald Trump had Hollywood on his mind.
About two hours into the nationwide flight chaos, Trump, 80, posted a lengthy screed on his Truth Social account about tax breaks to revitalize Hollywood.
The bizarrely timed post, which began with a litany of legislators’ names, stretched to almost 300 words and focused on bringing film and TV production back to California.
“Hollywood, and so many other places, have been virtually ‘emptied out’ by the Tax Incentives, and much more, given by other Countries. Everyone feels strongly about the Motion Picture and Television Industry — and so do I, and we all want to save it. It was MADE IN AMERICA, and must STAY IN AMERICA,” Trump wrote.
Trump went on to lament the loss of entertainment industry jobs to foreign competitors, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, which Trump said lure productions with tax breaks and other incentives.
Trump posts on Truth Social about Hollywood tax incentives in the midst of flight chaos.
Truth Social/Donald Trump
“It is a very Bipartisan undertaking, especially in that so much of the money being lost to other countries is coming out of the Blue States. Hopefully Republicans and Democrats will get together and finalize this already very actively negotiated Legislation. It can be done quickly, accurately, efficiently and, importantly, will benefit all of America,” Trump wrote, before closing the post with a riff on his favorite slogan.
“MAKE OUR ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY GREAT AGAIN!” he declared.
The post was a poorly timed call to action for H.R. 10582, known as the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act.
Old Hollywood: Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as Melania holds their son Barron roughly two decades ago.
The bill was first introduced in the House by Texas Rep. Nathaniel Moran in September. It has 63 cosponsors from both parties and would provide tax incentives for film and television production.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it is not clear why the president chose Friday evening, amid nationwide flight chaos on a scale not seen since 9/11, to throw his support behind the bill.
Just before 4 p.m. on Friday, the FAA announced a nationwide ground stop for departing flights, without providing details about the cause.
On CNN, experts speculated that a problem involving a new FAA system upgrade—“SMART,” a cloud-based, AI-supported air traffic management platform reportedly scheduled to go live on Friday—could be to blame.
The ground stop was scheduled to remain in effect until 11 p.m., meaning no flights could take off, but those already in the air could land. The FAA lifted the ground stop shortly after 8:15 p.m., more than four hours after it began.
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