American Airlines flight 1218 from Phoenix to Washington National diverted to Kansas City on Tuesday to offload a “disruptive passenger.” Four members of Congress were onboard returning to D.C. to vote on whether to re-open the government, and experienced first-hand flight disruptions that have plagued the country.
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) posted while en route that their flight was making an “emergency stop in Kansas City to remove [a] disruptive passenger,” later thanking “Kansas City police for handling the situation professionally and without incident.”
The same Airbus A321neo, registration N449AN, continued to D.C. arriving 1 hour and 18 minutes late. It’s not clear what the passenger actually did to warrant removal, but as they were taken off the aircraft declared that “we live in a fascist state.”
On a serious note, thank you Kansas City police for handling the situation professionally and without incident. pic.twitter.com/crhr4yKUZg
— Greg Stanton (@gregstantonaz) November 12, 2025
If you’d like to hear her parting words… pic.twitter.com/ZtXAWKEEYn
— Adam Burtner (@Adam_Burtner) November 12, 2025
Representative Stanton is the source of most information about the diversion, saying he was heading back to vote no on the Republican continuing resolution. The three Arizona Republicans on board — Crane, Biggs, and Gosar — have all been pushing to end the shutdown by passing the legislation.
- He’s said he would vote NO on the continuing resolution to re-open the government (and, most relevant to travelers, pay air traffic controllers) because it “fails to lower health care costs” (i.e., excludes Affordable Care Act subsidy extensions).
- His feed in recent days frames Democrats as wanting to end the shutdown with health‑care provisions, or put another way holding government functions hostage to extending subsidies for health care that are ending.
Meanwhile other members of Congress avoided the skies completely traveling back to D.C. to vote on re-opening the government.
Quick stop in Crossville, TN at the always reliable Buc-ee’s with my friend @RepTrentKelly as we head back to D.C. to end the Democrat shutdown. 8 more hours to go! pic.twitter.com/9eSIw40dRr
— Rep. Rick Crawford (@RepRickCrawford) November 11, 2025
.@derrickvanorden is driving 951 miles from Wisconsin to DC on his motorcycle! https://t.co/B3MHmGZjnG pic.twitter.com/1cZdovlSE3
— GK (@gracepeyt) November 11, 2025
It seems to me that leaving the Capitol during the government shutdown was a bad practice for members of Congress all around. And having flight issues trying to get back is… unsurprising? But I guess it’s good for them to have to eat their own dog food as it were.
The Senate advanced modified version of H.R. 5371 (continuing resolution) on November 10 by 60–40 and sent it back to the House. The bill funds the government through January 30, 2026 without ACA subsidy extensions. A House vote is expected today.
“It seems to me that leaving the Capitol during the government shutdown was a bad practice for members of Congress all around.”
Yup, while I don’t condone misbehavior on flights, I also recognize that people, all sides, are not happy with anything right now. The economy is bad; lotta layoffs; affordability has not improved, at all; groceries cost more; tariffs have hurt; healthcare is about to get exorbitantly that much more expensive, if it wasn’t already.
Meanwhile, the President, and his party of sycophants and enablers for the billionaire class, seem to only care about himself, ballrooms (‘but, but.. donors’), grifting billions off crypto-scams, sending tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars to Argentina (but, but ‘currency swap’) hosting Great Gatsby-themed parties, real let-the-eat-cake vibes from that fella, all while Americans starve and work like-slaves without pay.
And, folks, I’m not tickled about corporate-shill, uni-party, appeasement Democrats either, so, if you wanna help us get rid of Chuck, that’d be swell. I’d like to see a Progressive takeover, like what y’all did with the Tea Party and #45 in the lead-up to 2016. Anyway, something’s gotta change.
Do you hear the people sing?
After 1990 went after me for no reason whatsoever, I have saved myself a lot of time by not reading any of her posts.