Sen. Mike Lee Gets Shock at the Airport Days After Calling to End TSA

"Just because you're paranoid doesn’t mean 'they aren’t out to get you.' They’ll 'get you' by subjecting you to 'the process.'

In a post on X on Monday, Sen. Mike Lee called for the Transportation Security Administration to be eliminated.

“It’s time to abolish the TSA,” the Utah Republican said. “Airlines can and will secure their own planes if a federal agency doesn’t do it for them.

“They’ll do it better than TSA, without undermining the Constitution and with less groping — showing more respect for passengers.”

Lee didn’t provide many details about how to replace the TSA, but his post garnered 22,000 “likes” and was shared 8,200 times.

Anyone who has experienced a TSA patdown at an airport is likely to consider his proposal, whether or not they ultimately agree with it.

Oh, the audacity! Just three days later, Lee revealed that he underwent a patdown by TSA agents.

“Update: days after calling to abolish TSA, I got ‘randomly selected’ for the needlessly slow, thorough TSA screening & patdown,” the senator posted on X on Thursday.

“Maybe it’s a coincidence,” he said. “Or not. Impossible to know.

“That’s part of the problem with having a federal agency in charge of airport security.”

The issue with federal agencies nowadays is that they tend to target individuals who question their authority by subjecting them to tedious, annoying, and sometimes painful bureaucratic processes.

Just ask former President Donald Trump. Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan — chairman of the House Judiciary select subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government — outlined some of the tactics federal agencies employed against Trump over the past several years.

“In 2016, they spy on Trump’s campaign,” Jordan told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” in January 2023. “In 2018, it’s the Mueller investigation. In 2020, they suppress the Hunter Biden Story. In 2022, they raided the president’s home 91 days before an election, but they don’t tell us about Joe Biden’s classified documents that they knew about prior to the election.”

And that was before the GOP presidential candidate faced a slew of federal (and state) criminal charges last year.

It’s true: 'The punishment is the process.' But it’s not just high-profile figures who are targeted by federal agencies.

Republican Sens. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Mike Braun of Indiana penned a letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel in November, expressing concerns about an investigation into the American Accountability Foundation, a conservative watchdog group. The senators sought answers regarding the agency’s decision to scrutinize the AAF.

The letter accused the IRS of unfairly targeting conservative groups in the past.

“We write to express serious concern about your agency’s recent decision to audit the American Accountability Foundation (‘AAF’),” Vance wrote, “a non-profit organization dedicated to government transparency and oversight. In particular, we are concerned that this enforcement action is motivated by politics and does not reflect an evenhanded effort to enforce the law.”

It appears Lee, a conservative, has valid concerns about potential targeting by the TSA. That’s the essence of the weaponization of the federal government — intimidating conservatives until they comply.

Trump’s statement, “They’re not after me, they’re after you, and I’m just standing in the way,” isn’t just a campaign slogan. It’s a serious caution.

Lee seems to be taking it seriously. If you’re a conservative, you might want to do the same.

This doesn’t mean yielding to progressive pressure — quite the opposite. Stand firm and make your voice heard — just be wary."