TSA Shutdown Wasn’t About Money… It Was About Control

Summary

Earn Your Leisure Podcast
Episode: TSA Shutdown Wasn’t About Money… It Was About Control
Hosts: Rashad Bilal & Troy Millings
Date: March 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings dive into the recent TSA shutdowns and increased airport chaos, exploring the deeper roots and political motivations behind the disruptions. They challenge the mainstream narrative that it’s simply about funding, linking it instead to a broader agenda about control, intimidation, and potential privatization—tying in Project 2025, union-busting, and the normalization of authoritarian policing. The conversation flows from personal airport experiences to a wider analysis of American societal trends since 9/11.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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First-Hand Airport Experiences [02:34–04:10]

• Rashad recounts his experience at the airport—long lines, understaffing, and chaos:
  • "It was crazy...for every one TSA agent, there was two empty booths...over 4,000 people in that line." [03:14]
• Priority lines helped slightly, but issues were visible to all.
• Airport situation is inconsistent: some airports or time slots are better, but chaos is widespread.

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ICE Agents Filling in for TSA [04:10–07:53]

• ICE agents substituting for TSA staff: Rashad links this to under-training and rising intimidation in public spaces.
  • "ICE has not been trained to do their first job correctly...you're sending them to an airport and they have no training on that job at all. That job [TSA] is actually more training intensive than the first job." [05:25]
  • "It's like sending firefighters...to the TSA. What does one have to do with the other?" [05:25]
• Ties to Project 2025: Rashad references a section stating TSA should be treated as a national security provider, de-unionized, and potentially privatized.
• Point: The move isn’t about efficiency or safety, but about deepening a security state.

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Shifting to a Police State? [07:53–09:09]

• Police and military-style presence in everyday life:
  • "It's like a authoritarian regime where you see people with machine guns in your school, your church, your hospital, your airport." [07:53]
  • Over time, this becomes the "normal way of living."
• Rashad warns that what starts as a temporary measure expands into a permanent fixture:
  • "Now what was supposed to be two weeks turns into two years, turns into ten years..." [07:54]
• Intimidation at airports as a model for other public spaces, especially voting locations: "Now, when you go to vote, you got people with machine guns...It's a very intimidating presence. That's done for voter suppression." [08:37]

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The Push Toward Privatization [09:09–10:58]

• Benefits (for those in power): No union means fewer worker protections, more control for management, and cost-cutting on pensions and healthcare.
  • "There's no union, so that you can do whatever you want. You can fire whoever you want..." [09:13]
  • "If you just have a bunch of freelance workers...you don't have to do any of that [provide benefits]." [09:41]
• A manufactured crisis: By lowering working conditions and creating economic precarity, people will take any job, further eroding standards.
  • "You create an economy so bad that people don't have any other choice but [to accept it]." [10:15]

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Targeting a Younger, More Compliant Workforce & Historical Parallels [10:18–11:19]

• Hiring younger (cheaper and more easily indoctrinated) employees: "If you catch them early enough and...give them a salary...they’re not going to resist against the machine." [10:18]
• Link to post-9/11 changes: The TSA and other security expansions over the decades have contributed to loss of privacy and rights—"This may be the cherry on top if they get this off though." [10:53]
• Orwellian analogy:
  • "Like 1984 was not this bad...We now pay for the tech that funds Big Brother and then they take away every right and we don't even fight it anymore." [11:02]

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Warnings & Call to Awareness [11:19–11:50]

• Skepticism toward Project 2025 brushed off at their peril:
  • "All you people that said Project 2025 was a hoax and a distraction. They've implemented every single thing that was in the book to a T." [11:31]
• Challenge to MAGA supporters and critics:
  • "If you're MAGA in tonight and you're in chat, put in how you benefited from this run of presidency..." [11:50]
• Final advice:
  • "Stay woke." [11:26]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ICE Agents Working as TSA:
  “What does an ICE agent have to do with TSA pre-check security scanning machines? They have no correlation at all.” – Rashad [05:25]
• On Normalizing Intimidation:
  “Over time, this becomes a normal way of living… now we see people with AR-15s at the airport, and that just becomes normal.” – Rashad [07:54]
• On Unions and Privatization:
  “If you just have a bunch of freelance workers that's just, you know, here today, gone tomorrow, you don’t have to do any of that [workers' rights]…” – Rashad [09:41]
• Orwellian Comparison:
  “Like 1984 was not this bad...We now pay for the tech that funds Big Brother.” – Podcast Co-host [11:02]
• On Project 2025 Implementation:
  “They’ve implemented every single thing that was in the book to a T.” – Rashad [11:31]

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Segment Timestamps

• First-hand airport experiences: [02:34–04:10]
• ICE agents subbing for TSA – lack of training, Project 2025: [04:10–07:53]
• Security state, police presence, voter suppression: [07:53–09:09]
• Privatization, anti-union efforts: [09:09–10:58]
• Hiring trends & Orwellian society observations: [10:18–11:19]
• Call to awareness and direct challenge to skeptics: [11:19–11:50]

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Episode Tone & Takeaway

The conversation is candid and impassioned, blending personal anecdotes with incisive social commentary. Rashad and Troy use real-world examples and political analysis to unmask what they argue is a purposeful drift toward authoritarianism and privatization under the pretext of efficiency and security. Their take: “It's not about money, it’s about control,” and the time to question and resist these trends is now.

Transcript

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[Rashad]

See full [e-mail] let's talk about this TSA thing. So man, yo, they were so mad at me.

[Podcast Co-host]

Rashad, you went on a lucky day because, you know, I did my little video.

[Rashad]

Oh, yeah.

[Podcast Co-host]

I was like, yo, y' all capping the line. Then up, shout out to everybody at IH I appreciate you. I got through fine. Like, I didn't even need to use clear. I just want through the TSA pre check line. And they're like, oh, the day you went was convenient. And, you know people up there, and I'm like, they didn't get me through. There was nobody there. But every day after that, it seemed like it's been a horrible experience. I know you guys just flew out recently. How was your experience leaving New York?

[Rashad]

It was crazy. I mean, granted, like, why the airport was shut down the day before. The day before, yeah, because it was a. It was a airplane crash. I think two people died. Rest in peace. So that. That might have had something to do with it as well. But it was definitely understaffed. Like, you could see that every. It was, like, for every one TSA agent, there was two empty booths. But it was about 4,000 people in that line. It was crazy. I never saw a line like that before in the morning. So I guess it's hit or miss, because some people said, look, JFK was fine. Some people said, later on in the day, it got better. So I guess it depends on what time you're flying, what airport. I guess it just depends. But I personally experienced it. Over 4,000 people on the. On the line. I mean, you know, we had priority, so that. That helped out. It wasn't as bad. You know, we still had to wait, like, 30 minutes in the priority line. But it definitely. It definitely. I definitely saw it. It's a real thing. Like, it's not just a myth. I actually saw it with my own eyes. I saw it.

[Podcast Co-host]

How many hours early did you have to get to the airport?

[Rashad]

Now? We got to the. I was, like, three hours early. I. We didn't need to get there that early because, like I said, we had. So we could have done, like, two hours would have been fine. Yeah, two hours would have been fine. Hour and a half would have been, like, just cutting it close. But long story short, there's. There's TSA crisis, obviously, people know about. And now they're. They're sending ICE agents into airports. I didn't see ICE agents in LaGuardia, but I heard that in Newark. I heard they're in a bunch of other airports throughout throughout America. So this goes back to the Project 2025, because a lot of people like My whole thing is like, the ICE has not been trained to do their first job correctly. ICE agents, these are people that were correctional officers, these are people that were bounty hunters. And it was like, you know, hey, come here. Make six figures, get benefits. Okay, cool. They, they weren't fully trained on what their job even is. That's why they're making so many bad decisions in the field. So they wasn't trained on the first job, but that they're actually occupying.

[Podcast Co-host]

Yeah.

[Rashad]

So you get, you give people that were not trained on the first job and you're sending them to an airport and that they have no training on that job at all. And that job is actually more training intensive than the first job. Like the ICE agents job. The TSA is more training involved with that. Like, you actually have to know how to work a scanner, how to use the machines. Like, there's no machines that these ICE agents are using. They're not qualified at all. Like, the idea is stupid. It's like sending firefighters, like, oh, we just want to send our firefighters to the tsa. Like, what, what does one have to do with the other? What does, what does an ICE agent have to do with TSA pre check security scanning machines? What does that, what does one have to do with the other? They have no correlation at all. But if you do, if you read Project 2025, page 159, it talks about TSA should be treated as a national security provider. It also says TSA workforce should be de unionized. It also says TSA could be privatized. So when you now it starts to make more sense because you're not looking at it from a standpoint of airport efficiency. You're looking at it as a standpoint of how can we have law enforcement intimidation inside of an airport, which obviously, when you look at any form of immigration or whatever, that's a hotspot. People travel on airports. So I think this was an opportunity because it's not really even about funding. At a certain point. If you could fund ICE agents to be at an airport, they're getting paid. They're not working for free. But you're asking TSA agents to come and work for free. So it's, it's, it's more so about running a military regime in every part of life. It's like, it's like a authoritarian regime where you see, you see people with machine guns in your school, in your church and your, in your hospital, in your airport. And that just becomes a you after a while, you get used to it and you Stop questioning it.

[Podcast Co-host]

Yeah.

[Rashad]

And now what was supposed to be two weeks turns into two years, turns into 10 years turns into. That's just. That's just a normal way of living. Now, like now when we go to airports, we see people with AR15s that really have no reason because they're not doing. They're not serving the purpose of TSA PreCheck. They're just walking around with guns. So the purpose of them being there is not to make the TSA lines more efficient. They're not even trained to do that, is to have an intimidating presence of a police state. This is a police state. This is the beginning stages of a police state, an authoritarian rule. And this is a way to start to normalize that over the course of time. They talked about the midterm elections, that, okay, we can send them in the airport, we can send ICE to the midterm. Now when you go to vote, you got people with machine guns in your local schools, in your local. You know, wherever you, Wherever you're voting, you're going to see people with mass machine guns asking for id. It's a very intimidating. It's a very intimidating presence. Yeah, that's done for voter suppression. That's done to keep people in power.

[Podcast Co-host]

What would be the benefit of privatization?

[Rashad]

Well, there's. There's no union, so that you can do whatever you want. You can fire whoever you want. You can implement any rule you want. You can. You know, that's the whole point. That's why, like Basil, all these guys are such. They're so against the union, because the union, you have to actually, you know, follow some level of protocol. The workers have rights. You have to give them pensions, you have to give them retirement plans, you have to give them health benefits over and off. If you just have a bunch of freelance workers that's just, you know, here today, going tomorrow, you don't have to do any of that from an economic standpoint, but you also don't have to have any chartered protocol to actually follow. So now you can actually just do really whatever you want to do. And if you don't, if you don't like it, they don't like it, then fire it up, hire a bunch of new people, and you create an economy so bad that people don't have any other choice but.

[Podcast Co-host]

But to accept it.

[Rashad]

Exactly.

[Podcast Co-host]

Or hire incredibly young. I'm noticing a trend even in, in tech and some other companies. If you catch them early enough and let's say you give them a salary of 150, 200, they're going to be indoctrinated through the philosophy that because you're paying them so well, they're not going to resist against the machine. Because of course when you're older you have some wisdom and some foresight. But this, I think this is just a continuation of what's been done post 911 anyway. Because we've lost a lot of privacy and freedom rights. This may be the cherry on top if they get this off though.

[Rashad]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Co-host]

Like 1984 was not this bad. Like what, like and in that book, in that or what Orwellian scenario, like we were afraid of Big Brother. We now pay for the tech that funds Big Brother and then they take away every right and we don't even fight it anymore.

[Rashad]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Co-host]

What can you do?

[Rashad]

Stay woke.

[Podcast Co-host]

They even demonize that.

[Rashad]

That's a fact. But all you people that said probably 2025 was a hoax and it was a distraction. They've implemented every single thing that was in in the book to a T. Yep.

[Podcast Co-host]

And y' all are quiet as hell now. Even those of you on that magazine and a lot of y' all who are pro Mac, you're not benefiting from it.

[Rashad]

Oh no.

[Podcast Co-host]

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