In 2016, President Donald Trump posted about the chaos surrounding TSA and the airports under the Obama administration. Today, those comments are resurfacing as people look back at his past social media posts amid the ICE deployments at the airports and TSA agents not getting paid.
On May 21, 2016, Trump took to X, writing, “While our wonderful President was out playing golf all day, the TSA is falling apart, just like our government! Airports a total disaster!” Trump was referring to Barack Obama, who was seemingly playing golf while there were airport delays. At that time, there were not enough staff, delays, and long lines, too. TSA agents were also protesting for better pay and more staff.
However, netizens quickly realized that Trump has done the same thing. TSA agents are not being paid as the government shutdown continues, and many are quitting or just staying away. Amid all this chaos, Trump was playing golf on Sunday.
Project 2025 #planecrash #disaster #SeanDuffy #FAA #TSA: Air Canada #AC8646 New York LaGuardia tragic crash is about the 4th high profile crash for Donald Trump 47. So Trump trolls Obama. President Barack Obama had zero in 8 years. Atlanta yesterday: pic.twitter.com/13iVObPtC8 pic.twitter.com/b6EhwaHIme
— Andy Fox 🇺🇸 (@factandrumor) March 23, 2026
The President deployed mask-free ICE agents across 14 major U.S. airports to help with security and crowd control. As TSA workers numbers are dropping as a result of the shutdown, they are helping them with some of their duties.
Photos posted online show that they are starting to man some airports, but witnesses say that they are leaving the screening to the TSA agents. While they busy themselves with general security work, the agents are free to check IDs and make arrests.
Online reactions ranged from anger, to skepticism about putting ICE agents into the airports. Others pointed out that it didn’t make sense to put federal agents into the space while TSA workers could not even receive their basic salaries, yet ICE was being paid for their services.
The social media backlash was immense. One user took a screenshot of Trump’s 2016 post and captioned it, “Wow, 2016 Trump really hating on 2026 Trump!”
As many pointed out, the X post has really resurfaced at such an awkward time for the Trump administration. Said another commenter, “Well this aged well.”
Project 2025 #planecrash #disaster #SeanDuffy #FAA #TSA: Air Canada #AC8646 CRJ-900 from Montreal to New York LaGuardia tragic crash is just another on the list for Donald Trump. So Trump trolls Obama. Remind me, how many crashes were there in President Barack Obama’s 8 years? https://t.co/OWKZNO1GKo pic.twitter.com/KNQndZCHwI
— Andy Fox 🇺🇸 (@factandrumor) March 23, 2026
Others vented their frustration, writing, “What a FRAUD! At least under the Biden Administration, we did not wait in lines for 4 hours at the airport. Flip flopper Nikki Haley was right about one thing she said, “chaos follows Trump everywhere he goes.”
While the airports and the TSA are going through a crisis, a section of the Internet was upset that Trump was taking some time off. “Then why… are you playing golf? Why aren’t you attending to issues at home instead of Venezuela, Iran, Greenland and Cuba? Do your… job and compromise. Let TSA get paid and compromise on ICE!” they said.
One user also pointed out that the TSA crisis isn’t an isolated one. In fact, some workers report that this is another shutdown without pay that they are experiencing in less than six months. They said, “I like how we come back to this post multiple times because its happened multiple times under his watch.”
Trump no longer posts on X, but in a few years time, it would be interesting to see if any of his old Truth Social posts come back to haunt him.
