Not former. Still doin’ it. Would have been working right now this instant minute but I had my COVID shot this afternoon which means no flying this weekend for me. Darn.
As said by many, non-pertinent conversation is officially prohibited during taxi and below 10,000 feet. In the real world, hardly a flight goes by without a sentence or two that would be prohibited by a strict reading of the regs. It’s just part of reality. But an ongoing patter of unrelated BS should be stopped cold by the other pilot. Which is easier to stop if you’re the Captain stopping the First Officer than vice versa. FO’s can remind and cajole, but not force.
Typically only FOs talk on the ground control frequency. So if this rant was recognized by the voice from other radio calls, and it was on ground control frequency, then it’s 99.9% likely to be the FO doing the ranting. If they were airborne talking to any ATC agency then it could equally be either pilot.
As I mentioned in another thread when somebody raised this event, many pilots are culturally conservative and although many were D supporters in the heyday of unions, they have become cynical R supporters as the labor unions have been neutered (oddly enough that was entirely by R-driven legislation, but logic doesn’t always apply to people’s political reasoning).
Trumpers are much in evidence, driven mostly by a cynicism that all politicians are thieves and scoundrels. So Trump had to be better than those guys. Or at least will upset the apple cart, throwing some bad apples onto the ground. I have to say I haven’t run into a vocal Trumper since the election. I imagine they’re still out there simmering, but they’re not as noisy as they were.
Many of my co-workers are very decent caring human beings. Not rocket scientists, but good at their job and good to their families. A bunch spend waaay too much time alone glued to their RW propaganda.
Just like the rest of the USA.
In case you wondered, I can eat Trumpers for lunch quickly and effectively. It’s game over for them before it really begins.