This past year, official social media accounts from the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and other government agencies have adopted a distinct voice online. The posts look like memes, utilizing dramatic AI-generated art, general patriotic slogans, and cinematic language about “defending the homeland” and shaping America’s future.
But if you look closer, a pattern emerges.
Many of these phrases, images, and attached media aren’t just regular social media content. They repurpose language, symbolism, and cultural references with direct connections to neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements. It’s content that experts say is instantly recognizable to those who are in the white supremacist know, but can be largely invisible to everyone else.
So, let’s look at a couple of the more egregious examples that reveal this pattern.
There has been not one, but two posts from our government institutions that reuse a phrase ripped straight from William Gayley Simpson’s book Which Way Western Man?. It was published and promoted by the National Alliance—considered one of the “best organized” neo-Nazi groups in the United States. The book is antisemitic, racist, and explicitly states that Adolf Hitler was right.
ED O'KEEFE: Right. And we, of course, this past week reported that about 14% of those detained had violent criminal records. About 60% of them were wanted on criminal records overall. But it was that 14%, violent criminals. Again, I just- it sounds like this is going to go on a while, because Tom Homan wasn't terribly flexible on anything, especially on the issue of warrants and masks. You're not ceding any ground. So there's a few things coming up here. For example, State of the Union is scheduled for a week from Tuesday. Should it be held if the Department of Homeland Security is shut down?
REP. JEFFRIES: Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. It is certainly my hope--
ED O'KEEFE: --Sounds like you're going to get to it, though. I mean--
REP. JEFFRIES:--we can come to a resolution in advance of it. Well, here's the thing, the administration and Republicans have made a clear decision that they would rather shut down FEMA, shut down the Coast Guard and shut down TSA, than enact the type of dramatic reforms necessary so that ICE and other DHS law enforcement agencies are conducting themselves like every other law enforcement professional in the country. For instance, police officers don't use masks. County Sheriffs don't use masks. State troopers don't use masks. Why is it that ICE agents who are untrained, are being unleashed on American communities with this type of lawlessness, violence and brutality. Unacceptable, unconscionable, and it's un-American.
Meanwhile, the liars of ICE never stop lying. Mitch Smith and Hamed Aleaziz (NEW YORK TIMES) report:
When an immigration agent shot Julio C. Sosa-Celis in the leg last month in Minneapolis, touching off hours of tense protests, the Trump administration rushed to sell a version of events that demonized the wounded man and defended the agent.
About two hours after the gunfire, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman claimed that three people had attacked an agent with a broom and snow shovel. She said the agent “fired a defensive shot to defend his life” as he was “being ambushed.” The next day, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, accused the men of trying to kill the agent.
But the federal government’s account soon shifted. And by Friday, it had fully unraveled.
When assault charges were filed days after the shooting against Mr. Sosa-Celis and one of the other men, Alfredo A. Aljorna, officials changed their narrative, saying it was not three people who attacked the agent, but two. Several other details revealed in court records also differed from the original account.
Then on Thursday, the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota asked a judge to drop the case, saying that “newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations.” On Friday, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, said two agents had been placed on leave for providing accounts that appeared to conflict with video footage of what happened. Those agents, he said, could eventually face termination and prosecution.
[. . .]
The collapse of the government’s narrative, which came just as the administration was ending its more than two-month surge of immigration agents to Minnesota, was the latest instance of the Department of Homeland Security providing an account of a shooting that later proved questionable or outright wrong. For many, especially those already skeptical of the Trump administration’s deportation agenda, the repeated emergence of evidence that undermines official accounts has cast doubt on almost anything the government says about immigration enforcement.
In response to this news, Malcolm Ferguson (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:
This is absolutely egregious. Two men were accosted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and one took a bullet to the leg. Then the federal government called them murderers and hit them with heavy charges, all for ICE’s own head to admit that his agents appear to have been lying under oath—a crime that this administration doesn’t seem to take very seriously.
This shooting happened one week after Renee Good was killed, and just over a week before Alex Pretti was killed. The Trump administration lied to us about both of those events, as well. Only time will tell just how many more of these ICE shootings were offensive rather than defensive.
Around the country, protests continue against ICE. J. David Goodman, Mary Beth Gahan and Callie Holtermann (NEW YORK TIMES) report:
Students in more than three dozen states have walked out of class to protest the Trump administration’s deportation tactics in recent weeks, a wave of defiant demonstrations that continues as some officials have vowed to crack down.
Teenagers in Utah carried backpacks and bullhorns as they walked out of eight schools in Salt Lake County. In Maine, students in mittens convened on a bridge over the Kennebec River. Scores of students were seen stopping highway traffic in Maryland. Classmates at a high school in Sunnyside, Wash., lined a parking lot carrying hand-drawn posters. “We are skipping our lesson to teach you one,” read one.
But in Texas, where more than half of all public school students are Hispanic, Republican leaders have tried teaching a very different lesson of their own, threatening students, teachers and school districts with severe consequences for taking part in demonstrations.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has suggested that state funding could be stripped from school districts and that students who are disorderly during protests should be arrested. The Texas Education Agency has warned that districts found to have facilitated walkouts could be taken over by the state.
“Schools and staff who allow this behavior should be treated as co-conspirators,” Mr. Abbott said in a social media post last week, which focused on one walkout in Kyle, Texas, outside of Austin.
Yet despite the threats from state officials — and the pleas to students from many school administrators — the protests over immigration enforcement did not stop.
THE COLLEGIAN editorial board counters Abbott:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatening to take away state funding from high schools with students who participate in protests is a restriction of the First Amendment.
In response to high school students protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, Abbott argued walkouts are disruptive and lead to criminal chaos, and the schools allowing this behavior should be treated as co-conspirators.
But what is so criminal about student walkouts?
This type of political demonstration has been conducted by students since 1766. The Great Butter Rebellion at Harvard University, where students protested poor food quality, is considered the first student protest in the United States.
And Abbot's threats didn't deter turnout last week. Chris Moss and Bianca Rodriguez-Mora (FORT WORTH REPORT) report:
As Seguin High sophomore Janelle walked to the corner of Silo and Eden roads in Arlington, a green shirt with a Mexican flag stitched on the back draped over her shoulders.
Worry, anger and fear all washed over her as she stood next to classmates and wondered what the consequences would be for walking out of school to protest recent deportations and deadly shootings related to immigration enforcement. Then she remembered her grandmother, who inspired her to attend Thursday’s protest in the first place.
“She came here as an immigrant,” Janelle said. “So I feel like I should be out here and show her that I can do it, and I can protect people.”
Janelle was one of many in Arlington and Mansfield who participated in walkouts this week to protest against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Caitlin Leggett (KTXS) reports, "Students from Abilene High School walked out of class and marched to Abilene City Hall around noon Thursday, staging a student-led protest centered on concerns about immigration enforcement and what they described as recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement." KTAB/KRBC offer a photo essay here. CNN notes, "More than 100 Dripping Springs High School students walked out of class and marched Tuesday to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but some participants left the demonstration with traffic citations. Students carried signs and chanted as they left campus. One student, asked what they decided to put on their sign, said, 'We are skipping our lessons to teach you one. ICE out'." Jacob Daniels (KRISTV) adds, "Students at multiple Corpus Christi Independent School District campuses walked out of classes Thursday afternoon, carrying signs and chanting in what many described as a powerful statement. The demonstration sparked debate among community members about student safety and supervision during the protest." Arthur Clayborn (KLTV) notes, "Kilgore High School students walked out of classes Thursday morning to protest deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, with organizers saying recent family separations in their community motivated the demonstration. Student organizer Kemuel Ondinyo said he was inspired to act after watching similar protests at other Texas schools and witnessing deportations affecting people in his community." Bianca Seward (HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA) notes, "More than 50 students from the Houston Academy for International Studies walked out of school Tuesday protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the United States. The protest, which students said they started planning last week, started just after noon. While chanting 'ICE off our streets, ICE off our streets,' several students said they were there to call attention to the treatment of immigrants under the Trump administration."
And on Friday, walk outs continued. Priscilla Rice (KERA) reports, "Young North Texans continue to protest the federal government’s anti-immigration policies by walking out of class. More than 200 students walked out of Grand Prairie High School just after 11 a.m. on Friday. Students told KERA stronger U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement measures have affected not only their community, but communities nationwide." WBAP notes, "Several dozen students walked out of the Dallas Uplift Williams Prepatory School Friday morning, hiking into Dallas to protest ICE immigration activities at the American Airlines Center. Waving flags from several nations, students say they are protesting immigration and other federal agent violence, illegal arrests, and illegal deportations of their teachers and neighbors who have been here for years." Daniel Perreault (KVUE) adds, "Students at multiple Austin ISD schools walked out of class during the school day once again on Friday to protest. Students from three Austin high schools walked out around 1:30 p.m. and then marched to Austin City Hall." And Matt Mitchell (HOODLINE) notes, "More than a hundred McNeil High School students walked out of class in Round Rock on Friday afternoon, marching off campus to the corner of McNeil Drive and Parmer Lane to protest recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The midday demonstration kicked off shortly after 2 p.m., part of a wave of student-led protests that has rolled across Central Texas since late January."
And John Andrews (WSWS) reports:
On Friday thousands of high school students walked out of Los Angeles-area schools to protest ICE’s Gestapo tactics, participating in another national “day of action.” Those who gathered outside the federal jail in downtown Los Angeles heroically stood up against an attack with gas and batons by federal agents.
Helicopter video by local television stations show demonstrators standing their ground near the U.S. Metropolitan Detention Center, many obviously teenagers, some shoving back and throwing objects at the federal thugs in self-defense.
[. . .]
In a related retaliatory action, Ricardo Lopez, a history teacher at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Charter Synergy Quantum Academy in South Los Angeles, was fired for opening a locked gate to allow students, who were then risking injury by climbing over gates and fences, to join the walkout, a move school administrators labeled insubordination. Already almost a thousand signatures have been collected demanding Lopez’s reinstatement. To date the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) bureaucracy has issued no statement in support of the victimized teacher.
Protests took place across the nation. Today? Austin Hanson (FOX 59) reports:
A group of singers gathered in downtown Indianapolis Sunday night to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The demonstration, which was organized by Indy Singing Resistance, was held at Monument Circle at 6 p.m. Instead of chanting, protestors used their signing voices to express themselves.
In a release sent ahead of the protest, Singing Resistance indicated that a small group of people would lead all who show up for the event. Those leaders taught demonstrators the songs they planned to sing during the protest upon their arrival at the event. No singing experience was required for protest attendees.
In Tennessee, WCYB reports, "Despite rainy conditions, protesters took to the streets in Johnson City on today to rally against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the region, saying they are concerned about what they describe as an increased ICE presence spreading across Northeast Tennessee. Community members gathered holding signs and chanting, saying they would not stay silent against what they described as growing enforcement efforts by ICE. Pandora Burns a protestor said, 'I mean they don't stop deporting people in the rain either so'."
The Epstein Class. A group Chump's protecting. His friends. Remember the ones that would be hurt by the release of the Epstein files? He yelled that at Marjorie Taylor Greene, remember? Christopher Lamb (CNN) reports:
Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser to US President Donald Trump, discussed opposition strategies with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein against Pope Francis, with Bannon saying he hoped to “take down” the pontiff, according to newly released files from the US Department of Justice.
Messages sent between the pair in 2019, released in the massive document dump last month, reveal Bannon courted the late financier in his attempts to undermine the former pontiff after leaving the first Trump administration.
Bannon had been highly critical of Francis whom he saw as an opponent to his “sovereigntist” vision, a brand of nationalist populism which swept through Europe in 2018 and 2019. The released documents from the DOJ appear to show that Epstein had been helping Bannon to build his movement.
“Will take down (Pope) Francis,” Bannon wrote to Epstein in June 2019. “The Clintons, Xi, Francis, EU – come on brother.”
Pope Francis was the people's pope so it's only natural that a disgusting creep like Steve Bannon would want to take him "down." The Epstein Class is being made uncomfortable and a few are having to find the exit door. Claire Zillman (FORBES) notes:
On Thursday, Goldman Sachs said general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler will leave the bank in June after the documents showed she stayed in close contact with Epstein until 2019, at one point calling him “Uncle Jeffrey” as she thanked him for high-end gifts. And on Friday, Dubai-based logistics group DP World named a new chair and new CEO, signaling the departure of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem whose emails with Epstein included references to sexual experiences. Both ousters followed earlier resignations in the U.K. public sector, namely those of former U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson from the House of Lords and Morgan McSweeney, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff who’d advised on Mandelson’s appointment.
And Charisma Madarang (ROLLING STONE) notes another out the door:
Following an exodus of talent who have left the Wasserman Group talent agency after emails between founder Casey Wasserman and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Justice Department's latest tranche of documents, pressure for the founder to step down came to a boiling point. On Friday, Wasserman announced that he was selling the company as he had become a "distraction" to the business he founded 24 years ago.
The latest releases also placed a shadow over the previous accounts given by allies of President Trump — from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to Elon Musk — regarding their dealings with Epstein.
There is no suggestion of criminality around either Lutnick or Musk, but the latest batch of emails contradicted Lutnick’s earlier assertions of when he had cut off contact with Epstein and called into question Musk’s previously emphatic insistence that he “refused” to visit the disgraced financier’s Caribbean island.
In one newly released email, the entrepreneur asks Epstein which day or night might feature the wildest party on the island. It’s unclear if Musk actually visited.
Beyond all of that, there is the broader fear and anger raised by the nature of the Epstein story.
Specifically, it stokes the sense of a wealthy and powerful elite hovering above the rest of society, forming a chummy circle of mutual protection, and remaining out of reach of the laws and ethical standards to which everyone else is subject.
At a time when anti-elitist populism is already one of the strongest animating political forces in the United States — and in many other parts of the world — the Epstein story is rocket fuel.
Donald Chump is a pedo protector and he's got a lot of people he's protecting. David McAfee (RAW STORY) notes:
A Donald Trump insider has been revealed to have been in "regular contact" with the late child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, including in one email that says "miss u," according to the latest DOJ release.
CBS News reported on the Epstein files release on Saturday in an article called, "Trump insider Tom Barrack kept in regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein for years, files show." Barrack is also an administration ambassador to Turkey.
"President
Trump's longtime confidant Thomas Barrack, now serving as U.S.
ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, was in regular, close
contact with Jeffrey Epstein for years after Epstein's 2008 conviction
for soliciting a minor, a CBS News analysis of over 100 texts and email
exchanges from the newly released Justice Department documents shows,"
according to CBS.
The outlet further reported, "The correspondence places Barrack, a globe-trotting billionaire, among a circle of wealthy and influential figures who maintained social contact with Epstein even as his criminal history became widely known. Their relationship continued even after Barrack became a prolific fundraiser for Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign, and later, led his inaugural committee and became a frequent presence in the White House."
And Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) reports on a document in the recent release of Epstein files:
According to an FBI document released by the DOJ, the agency received a tip in June of 2021 from an individual whose name has been redacted, but is described as an alleged “victim,” a former member of the Sinaloa Cartel, and a close confidant of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
According
to the document, the individual was formally interviewed by an FBI
agent, and accused Trump of being aware of and having funded “underage
sex parties at the Donald Trump Golf course.”
That individual went on to claim that they had “recordings of Trump, Epstein and Maxwell discussing marketing strategies for high profile sex parties,” according to the FBI official who drafted the document, their name also redacted. The individual claimed that in one of the recordings, Trump can be heard stating “he was aware of the underage sex parties.”
Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office: