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

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.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.