Listening to the actual audio in your linked video (ignoring the talking head for a sec), I'm not so sure. Helicopter pilot landed, tower asked if he landed, confirmed he landed ("landing assured, for PAT23" at 12:30), then.. tower started issuing him more instructions a few mins later ("PAT23 proceed westbound now" at 14:19)? He was rightfully confused ("affirm, we were just landing at the pentagon" at 15:29). While his communication was a bit loose, clearly the ATC.. just forgot that whole exchange? I feel like that's not supposed to happen.

Concerns about the FAA's air traffic control system date back decades.

2008: U.S. air traffic controller force in crisis

2009: JOBS: A Scramble to Add Air Traffic Controllers

2010: FAA Faces Challenges in ATC Staffing

2011: How Ronald Reagan Doomed The FAA To A Staffing Crisis Every 25 Years

2012: FAA's ATC Staffing Shortage Continues

2013: Tower at O’Hare May Be a Victim of Federal Cuts

2014: Blame the FAA for air-traffic controller shortage

2015: Union: Chronic shortage of air traffic controllers a crisis

2016: Why the U.S. Doesn't Have Enough Trained Air Traffic Controllers

2017: Breaking point: America's air traffic control

2018: Could air traffic controller shortage have impact on safety?

2019: Shutdown Sets Off Airport Delays as F.A.A. Announces Staffing Shortages

2020: A global shortage of air traffic controllers is being exacerbated by huge demand for flights

2021: Staff shortage, bad weather blamed for flight cancellations at JIA, airports nationwide

2022: What’s behind the US air traffic controller labor shortages

2023: Drunk and Asleep on the Job: Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink

2024: FAA still short about 3,000 air traffic controllers, new federal numbers show

2025: Concerns about the FAA's air traffic control system date back decades

Here is a non-partisan question. Another thread mentions that there was a minimum of one near miss every month for the last 13 years. I thought that near misses were treated nearly as seriously as full blown disasters. The current administration may make it worse. But what explains the rot in the past?