The Perfect Storm: Trump’s Supersonic and Drone Orders Are a Corporate Coup

From militarization, surveillance, and deregulation to elitism and environmental degradation, these have it all.

Jun 11, 2025

On June 6, Donald Trump signed two sweeping executive orders: “Leading the World in Supersonic Flight” and “Unleashing American Drone Dominance.” The headlines framed them as bold moves to modernize American aviation, cutting red tape, unlocking innovation, and reclaiming U.S. leadership in the skies.

But those headlines missed the point. What Trump did wasn’t about transit but rather about power.

These orders aren’t just regulatory tweaks. They are a blueprint for militarizing the skies, expanding surveillance, deregulating safety and environmental protections, and enriching elite interests, all at the expense of democracy, privacy, and the public good.

Let’s be clear: this is not innovation. It’s a corporate coup, dressed in a jet engine and a drone rotor.

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Supersonic Flight: Speed for the Elite, Risk for the Rest

Trump’s executive order directs the FAA to lift a decades-old ban on overland supersonic flight, a regulation that has protected Americans from sonic booms since 1973. Within 180 days, that ban will be gone.

The push is framed as “reclaiming American leadership in aviation.” In reality, it’s a gift to the ultra-wealthy and military contractors. Supersonic commercial jets, like those promised by Boom Supersonic, are expected to cost thousands of dollars per ticket and burn up to seven times more fuel per passenger than a standard plane.

And yet, while billionaires are being promised three-hour coast-to-coast flights, Americans still lack access to affordable high-speed rail, basic transit upgrades, or reliable airport infrastructure.

There’s no public good here. This is privatized speed for the few, and risk, noise, and emissions for the rest.

We’ve Been Here Before: The Concorde Failed

Let’s not forget: the world already tried supersonic commercial flight. It was called the Concorde, and it didn’t last.

Ultra-expensive: Tickets ran up to $12,000 (adjusted), making it a toy for the ultra-rich.
Noisy and disruptive: Sonic booms led to overland flight bans, and even coastal airports struggled with complaints.
Fuel inefficient: It burned more than twice the fuel per passenger compared to conventional jets.
Retired early: After just 27 years, the Concorde was quietly grounded due to high costs, limited demand, and public backlash.

It wasn’t progress. It was a futuristic fantasy subsidized by the public, and abandoned when it couldn’t deliver real value.

Drone Expansion: Surveillance as Infrastructure

The drone order mandates sweeping changes. Most notably, it fast-tracks Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) capabilities nationwide, meaning drones can fly and surveil without a nearby human operator.

The federal government is also creating a Counter-UAS Task Force, composed of DHS, DOJ, DoD, and the FAA. This isn’t about innovation in delivery. This is about surveillance and domestic control, especially around borders, protests, and public spaces.

These drones won’t be flying to help the postal service, which remains gutted and ignored. Instead, they’ll be used to monitor communities, track behavior, identify individuals, and, in many cases, assist law enforcement and immigration crackdowns.

See our recent reporting here about the slow down in rural delivery. Imagine if postal drones were even considered as a solution.
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If we’re building a new layer of infrastructure in the sky, we have to ask: who is it watching, and who is it serving?

Drone Déjà Vu: From Battlefields to Backyards

The promise of drone tech has always been double-edged, and history shows where it often lands.

First deployed in military operations for surveillance and targeted killings, drones quickly expanded into domestic airspace.
Police departments have already used drones to monitor protests (like in Ferguson and NYC), often without warrants or public consent.
In 2020, the DOJ and DHS used drones over U.S. cities during BLM protests, raising red flags about civil liberties.

Drones that start as tools of war too often become tools of domestic control, especially when paired with facial recognition and predictive policing.

Months ago we reported about the use of drones at the border. See that article here.
Note: This article is more than 45 days old and now lives in the archive. Consider becoming a paid subscriber for the full 650+ archive, exclusive content, and occasional early access.
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Deregulation on Fast-Forward

Both executive orders contain aggressive and arbitrary deadlines for implementation, such as 30, 90, and 180 days. These are not timelines built for public consultation, scientific review, or democratic input.

Environmental impact assessments, noise studies, privacy hearings, and deliberation over equity and climate risk are all skipped or rushed.

The FAA, already under-resourced and struggling with air traffic controller shortages, is being tasked with a massive deregulation agenda that prioritizes speed over safety and profit over people.

We don’t need a faster rulebook. We need a smarter, more democratic one.

Rush Jobs, Real Damage: Deregulation’s Track Record

Fast-tracked deregulation isn’t new, and it rarely ends well for the public.

In the 1980s, the Reagan-era deregulation of the airline industry led to industry consolidation, worker exploitation, and the erosion of regional service.
The 2008 financial crisis was fueled by years of deregulation on Wall Street, which prioritized speed and innovation over oversight and risk assessment.
Trump’s own 2018 FAA deregulation efforts weakened oversight of aircraft like the Boeing 737 MAX, resulting in two fatal crashes and hundreds of deaths.

When we strip away regulation in the name of “efficiency,” we don’t just cut red tape; we cut lifelines.

Testing on the Powerless: Rural and Marginalized Sacrifice Zones

Just like with the atomic bomb in the 1940s, America is once again using rural and marginalized communities as testing grounds for high-risk technologies.

The FAA is expected to open new “test corridors” for drones and eVTOL (flying car) aircraft in areas where political resistance is weakest, often rural, poor, and disproportionately Indigenous or Black and brown communities.

These areas will bear the brunt of noise, surveillance, crashes, and emissions, with no say in the process. And when accidents happen—as they inevitably will—it won’t be over Wall Street or Beverly Hills.

It will be over someone’s farm, someone’s neighborhood, someone’s school.

Testing on the Voiceless: We’ve Done This Before

Rural and marginalized communities have always been seen as “safe zones” for unsafe experiments.

The Trinity Test of the first atomic bomb exposed nearby Hispanic and Indigenous residents in New Mexico to deadly fallout, without warning or consent.
From Tuskegee to Love Canal to fracking in Appalachia, government and corporate actors have used “low-resistance” communities to test or hide environmental risk.
Today’s drone and eVTOL “test corridors” follow the same logic: experiment where pushback is weakest.

Call it what it is: sacrifice by ZIP code.

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Big Oil’s Jackpot

Supersonic jets aren’t just noisy. They’re fossil-fuel gluttons. They rely on high-performance fuels refined from the dirtiest oil sources. The reintroduction of supersonic commercial aviation will significantly increase emissions per passenger mile, undoing decades of climate progress in a single executive stroke.

Big Oil wins. The planet loses.

The aviation industry has long been one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize. Trump’s orders effectively signal that we’re giving up, handing the reins back to Exxon, Chevron, and the Saudis in exchange for a few hours saved on elite travel itineraries.

Fossil Fuel’s Flying Future: Aviation as Climate Loophole

Aviation has long been a climate blind spot, and oil companies know it.

Jet fuel is untaxed internationally, giving Big Oil a protected revenue stream.
Airlines account for about 2.5% of global emissions, but their climate impact is amplified at high altitudes.
Supersonic jets bring it full circle—fuel-hungry, high-pollution aircraft rolled out just as the planet needs carbon cuts the most.

This isn’t clean tech. It’s climate denial with wings.

See our previous reporting on gutting regulations here:
Note: This article is now more than 45 days old and lives in the archive. Consider becoming a paid subscriber for all 650+ articles, exclusive content, and occasional early access.
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So Much for States’ Rights

The party of “small government” and “states’ rights” just signed an order that federally overrides local drone laws, including city ordinances that protect privacy, ban facial recognition, or limit surveillance near schools and protests.

This is the same Republican movement that wants Texas to defy federal gun laws and Florida to ban books at the county level. But when it comes to federal surveillance drones flying over your backyard, suddenly, the feds are in charge.

It’s not about the size of government. It’s about who that government is working for.

States’ Rights? Only When Convenient

The GOP talks big about local control until it gets in the way of corporate or federal power.

The Patriot Act expanded federal surveillance over local jurisdictions in the name of security.
Red states love preemption when it comes to banning cities from raising the minimum wage or regulating guns.
Now, Trump’s drone order overrides local privacy laws and airspace protections, handing complete control to federal agencies and corporations.

“States’ rights” has always been selective rhetoric, not a principle.

We reported recently about the AI regulation moratium hidden in the budget bill here:
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