As Transportation Security Administration lines extend to hours at major U.S. airports across the country amid a wave of walkouts and resignations from the Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown, one familiar figure was seen among the crowds enduring the chaos — President Donald Trump's former attorney general.
In a photograph uploaded to social media by CBS News Homeland Security correspondent Nicole Sganga, Bill Barr, who ran the Justice Department during the latter half of Trump's first term, could be seen, luggage in tow, waiting in the security line at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where wait times have reached three hours as of Wednesday morning.
The image triggered immediate mockery and schadenfreude from commenters, as Barr was a controversial figure to both sides while in office — enraging anti-Trump liberals by selectively burying Justice Department reports that made Trump look bad, while enraging Trump supporters by refusing to go along with plots to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"This is a freakin' mess," wrote former CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane.
"TSA lines as the great equalizer," wrote Houston Chronicle opinion editor Evan Mintz.
The mockery was even more intense from MAGA figures.
"It warms my heart to see deep state Bill Barr looking miserable in a TSA line," wrote right-wing YouTuber Benny Johnson.
"Man of the people," wrote Benjamin Domenech, husband of Meghan McCain and opinion editor for the right-wing Daily Wire.
"GoFundMe to get Bill Global Entry," wrote GOP strategist Logan Dobson.
Meanwhile, moderate conservative think tank analyst Andrew Eastmond had his own take on the image.
"Eventually if societal dysfunction gets bad enough even the powerful and connected aren't spared," he wrote. "And that will be part of what will finally lead us to a better place."