Commenters online were largely quite unhappy with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) after footage of her sneaking through the airport and out of DC for Easter Break emerged, with the footage being particularly galling in that not only was she leaving, but she was using her personal security and status as a member of Congress to skip the line.
For reference, the multi-week DHS funding shutdown inflicted on the country by Chuck Schumer meant that TSA agents went unpaid for weeks on end. Because of that, many agents quit and others didn’t go to work, and paired with spring break, that meant a massive pile-up in the airports as crushing throngs of travellers met with an overwhelmed TSA.
President Trump initially responded by sending in ICE agents, which did some good, but the lines remained long. After he threatened to fund TSA through executive order, the Senate passed a terrible spending bill that left ICE and border security unfunded, but did fund TSA. The bill will have to be signed by the House and the president before becoming law.
Many suspected that the Senate, which passed the terrible appropriations bill on the night of Thursday, March 26, did so because it wanted to go home for a two-week-long Easter Break, and thus just skipped to an awful deal that favors Democrats so that it could get out of town as soon as possible. Sen. Blackburn, who was one of the better GOP senators during the mess, thus raised the hackles of the internet by being one of the ones to leave that night.
The furor over her leaving began with a post from US Senator from New Jersey Andy Kim (D), who argued that the spending bill was a Democrat victory, saying, “Just leaving the Capitol now at 3am as I wanted to be on the Senate floor through final passage of the vote to end the shutdown. As we promised, there was no funding for ICE without the reforms Americans demand. TSA at our airports funded; zero for ICE.”
That then led to a quote tweet in which an X poster noted that Sen. Blackburn had left that very night, and was spotted walking behind her security escort, as if to hide her presence. That poster wrote, “And why did @MarshaBlackburn leave DC last night? She was trying to avoid being seen by hiding behind her escort”. Text overlaid on the video said, “Senator Marsha Blackburn sneaking out on Easter break.”
Angrily quote-tweeting that, the “Nova Campaigns” X account noted that not only was she sneaking out and hiding behind her security escort, but she was being escorted to the front of the security line, a privilege many members of Congress exercise that has deeply annoyed and perturbed ordinary Americans who have been stuck in hours-long lines at the airport because of Congress.
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That account said, “GOP Senator @MarshaBlackburn tries to hide behind her persona @TSA escort to the front of the security line in DC. Concierge service to Congress, and the focus is to be hidden from the public.”
Watch the video of her here:
MAGA commenters had mixed feelings about the matter. One noted that she has been relatively good, at least for a GOP senator, during this, and hasn’t betrayed President Trump like the others have, so punishing her makes little sense. He wrote, “She’s not among the Senators voting against funding DHS, there’s no reason to punish her.”
However, a similarly pro-Trump account had a very different take, arguing she should have proven a point by, if she really had to leave town, waiting in the security line like a normal person. That poster said, “This is not a good look to the country especially when one is trying to win a possible governorship. Not a brilliant move, Marsha. You should’ve waited in line if for nothing else to prove a point. Shame on you, madam. Shame on you!”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video