TSA Mocks Newsom Over California’s Train to Nowhere

It’s rare to see a federal agency take a public swipe at a sitting governor but when the boondoggle is this massive and the arrogance this rich, even the TSA couldn’t help itself.

Governor Gavin Newsom boasted last week that after nearly two decades, 463 miles of California’s long-stalled high-speed rail project are finally “ready for construction.” Not completed. Not operational. Just ready to begin building.

And in typical Newsom fashion, the spin didn’t stop there. In a press release that read more like a campaign ad, his office declared, “High-speed rail means no TSA lines, no removing your shoes just fast, clean travel.”

That was all the TSA needed.

In a rare public clapback, the Transportation Security Administration fired back on social media:

“Congratulations Gov. Newsom! 463 miles ‘ready for construction,’ maybe someday it will join the 20,000+ miles of passenger rail we already secure. Meanwhile, Americans, who don’t fly private jets, have kept their shoes on at TSA checkpoints since July. Enjoy your next flight!”

The sarcasm wasn’t lost on anyone. Especially not Californians, who’ve watched the high-speed rail project evolve into one of the most bloated money pits in modern American infrastructure history.

Let’s break it down:

• Originally approved in 2008, the project was sold to voters as a $33 billion venture with a completion target of 2020.

• By 2024, the cost had soared to over $135 billion, with construction still not started on key segments.

• Passenger service, once scheduled for 2022, is now delayed until at least 2033.

• Over $4 billion in federal funding was pulled during Trump’s first term, when he called it the “HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE.”

And he was right.

Eighteen years later, Californians still don’t have a single mile of operational track to show for it. But Newsom like so many Democrats just keeps moving the goalposts, pretending progress is being made while taxpayers foot the bill.

What makes the situation worse is the smug sense of superiority that Newsom continues to project. Instead of acknowledging the catastrophic mismanagement and waste, he uses the project to dunk on other states, like Texas, which had the good sense to cancel its version of the project before it burned billions.

Texas walked away. California kept digging. Into your wallet.

Meanwhile, the TSA had to remind the Governor that his brag about bypassing security screening was outdated. Since July 2025, most airline passengers haven’t had to remove their shoes at TSA checkpoints a small but telling detail Newsom got completely wrong.

This isn’t just about a train. It’s about the culture of unaccountability that defines California’s Democrat leadership. They overpromise, underdeliver, and mock anyone who dares to demand results. The state’s economy is hemorrhaging residents and business owners, yet Newsom still parades around as if he's building the future.

What he’s really building is a monument to failure.

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