Trump Suggests Gutting TSA After Blaming Shutdown on Democrats

President Donald Trump wants to cut more than $1.5 billion—and thousands of jobs—from the Transportation Security Administration’s budget after subjecting its employees to weeks without pay. 

The Trump administration wants to gut 9,400 workers from the 60,000-person agency, according to budget documents reviewed Monday by Reuters. 

The 2027 White House budget suggests small airports rely on private security screeners, instead of the TSA, and claims this change would cut 4,500 jobs.

“The airports that already use this program have demonstrated savings compared to Federal screening operations,” the White House budget documents stated. “The move would yield cost savings compared to Federal screening and begin reform of a troubled Federal agency.”

 Airports that used privatized security avoided longer lines caused by the partial government shutdown, but using private companies risks compromising traveler safety and has been condemned by union leaders. 

“It’s very important that people understand what privatization is,” Johnny Jones, secretary treasurer for AFGE TSA Council 100, told CNN.  “It has nothing to do with your security or your safety. It has everything to do with somebody making a profit.”

The Department of Homeland Security has also pitched ending staffing at exit lanes, which would cut another 4,800 jobs. 

Last month, Trump rejected a plan to pay TSA workers amid a partial government shutdown, because Democrats wouldn’t agree to fund the president’s reckless federal immigration enforcement. Republican lawmakers had also made efforts to stall funding TSA in order to continue the fight over immigration funding. 

Finally, last week, Trump signed an executive order to pay workers at the TSA, which has been hemorrhaging employees as paycheck after paycheck has gone unpaid, causing severe disruptions at airports across the country. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a vague law Monday that gives a handful of state officials—including him—the ability to denote groups as terrorist organizations and revoke their nonprofit status. Any college student who supports said terrorist organization can be expelled under the new law.

Florida’s House Bill 1471 appears to be targeted at Muslim organizations in the state, and DeSantis said as much in a press conference before signing the bill, calling it a means to protect against “sharia law” and boost “public safety, our culture, and our security.”

“We don’t want money flowing to these groups that are appendages of terrorist groups,” DeSantis added, mentioning the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations by name. “We’ll do millions for public safety, millions for education but never one red cent for jihad.”

CAIR is an organization whose mission is to protect the civil rights of American Muslims, and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with chapters in states all across the country. In a statement, the executive director of CAIR-Florida, Hiba Rahim, called out DeSantis for having “falsely labeled CAIR as terrorists without lawful authority or evidence” four months before in a different bill that was later blocked in court.

“This is not just about CAIR. This expanded and deeply flawed framework can attack any organization that dares to dissent,” Rahim said about the new law. “As Floridians, together, we’ll watch how this unprecedented law is enforced, and whether it is used or abused.”

References to sharia law in the bill could also prevent Muslim schools from receiving state vouchers if they are determined to be affiliated with a group labeled a terrorist organization. Conspiracy theories over sharia law have been a right-wing fixation for decades, with conservatives falsely claiming that Muslims are trying to set up a religious legal system.

The bill doesn’t include any method for oversight of how groups would be designated as terrorist organizations, either by the courts or by Florida’s legislature.

“There is no requirement for legislative approval,” Representative Rita Harris, a Democrat, said while the bill was being debated. “There is no independent judicial finding before the designation takes effect. There is no built-in meaningful oversight mechanism to ensure transparency or review. In our system of government, we do not place sweeping, labeling authority in the hands of a few executive officials without guardrails.”

The bill will likely face legal challenges over violations of the rights to freedom of speech and religion enshrined in the First Amendment, and may not survive in court. Islamophobia, on the other hand, seems to persist in American political discourse even as its mouthpieces are consistently exposed as bigots.

The U.S. does not have control over the Strait of Hormuz, but that hasn’t stopped Donald Trump from musing about making a buck off of it.

Speaking with reporters Monday, the president argued that America should charge tolls on the waterway—despite the fact that the strait is still firmly in Iranian control.

“Are you willing to end this conflict with Iran charging tolls for passage through the strait?” asked a journalist at the White House press briefing.

“Us charging tolls?” asked Trump.

“Iran,” the reporter clarified.

“What about us charging tolls?” Trump said to some muffled laughter in the room.

“Is that something you’re considering?” the reporter pressed.

“I’d rather do that. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won. Okay? They are militarily defeated,” Trump continued. “The only thing they have is the psychology of ‘oh we’re going to drop a couple of mines in the water.’ Alright? No, I mean, we’ve got a concept where we charge tolls. I thought you meant us.”

“Your question would have been more accurate if you said us,” Trump added.

Situated between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, the strait funnels approximately one-fifth of all crude oil shipments. Most of that oil is moved toward China or India. In 2024, the U.S. imported roughly 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the strait, accounting for about 7 percent of total U.S. crude imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Nonetheless, the shuttered strait has caused a crisis back home, stirring anxiety amongst Republicans that the economic fallout of the war could wreak havoc on their election results come November.

The price per oil barrel has exploded due to the strait’s closure, pushing gas over $4 per gallon in most states (in some areas of California, gas has leapt past $7 a gallon). Diesel shot up by 20 cents over the last week alone.

Exactly how Trump would obtain control over the vital passageway, let alone toll it, is not clear, but the president has stated he is open to practically every form of violence in order to crush Iranian opposition. That includes the possibility of sending ground troops, striking “every power plant” and bridge in Iran, and even “blowing up the whole country,” unless Iranian leadership submits to a ceasefire arrangement by Tuesday evening.

So far, the country has refused.

President Trump ramped up a threat to commit massive war crimes in Iran on Monday, and claimed that God supports him in doing so.

“We’re giving them ’til tomorrow. Eight o’clock, Eastern Time. And after that they’re gonna have no bridges, they’re gonna have no power plants. Stone Ages, yeah,” Trump said when asked about his weekend threat that he would launch a decimating attack if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump was then asked about what the Christian God would think of his war on Iran.

“You said, ‘Glory be to God in this conflict.’ Do you believe that God supports the United States’s actions in this war?”

“I do because God is good. And God wants to see people taken care of,” Trump said, speaking for God. “God doesn’t like what’s happening. I don’t like what’s happening.... I’ve ended eight wars.”

“You said that very little is off-limits in Iran as far as the targeting,” Politico’s Dasha Burns then asked. “Are there certain kinds of civilian targets, though, I’m thinking schools, hospitals, that you—”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Trump replied. “We have a plan—because of the power of our military—where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night. Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock. And it’ll happen over a period of four hours, if we want it to. We don’t want that to happen. We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation.”

This violent ultimatum doesn’t align with the Trump administration’s constant rhetoric suggesting that the war is all but won, and that the Iranian government is on its last legs. Trump’s war has already killed over 1,600 Iranian civilians. His threats would destroy vital routes and plunge thousands more into darkness, resulting in even more death and suffering.

President Donald Trump called former President Joe Biden “mentally retarded” twice.

Speaking at a press conference Monday, Trump repeatedly threw around the slur while bragging about his relationship with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s reclusive authoritarian leader.

“Do you notice, he said very nice things about me. He used to call Joe Biden a mentally retarded person, OK? So, don’t tell me about your stuff,” the president said. “[Of] Joe Biden, he said, ‘He’s a mentally retarded person.’ He was so nasty to Joe Biden, it was terrible. But to me—he likes Trump.”

It doesn’t appear that Kim Jong Un ever referred to Biden as “mentally retarded.”

In 2019, North Korean state media labeled Biden an “imbecile” and a “fool of low IQ” after the former president criticized Kim as a “tyrant.”

But Trump has not been immune to North Korea’s name-calling, either: He was previously labeled a “dotard,” meaning someone who is slow and old. His supposedly cozy relationship with Kim has only become more strained since he reentered office.

Trump’s comments came amid a winding rant complaining that other countries had not helped to reopen the Strait of Hormuz (which only closed because of Trump’s decision to attack Iran).

Trump’s inability to stay on topic, or recall specific details, speaks to his increasingly apparent cognitive decline. The president’s retreat to childish attacks against his former political rival mirrors his ongoing temper tantrum meant to threaten Iran into allowing trade to resume through the region.