About a month into Donald Trump’s second term, the White House used social media to promote a video featuring ICE officials placing immigrants in chains and handcuffs before they board a plane, presumably for deportation. A backlash soon followed, with many observers noting how dehumanizing the display was.
Two months later, the president is still talking about how much he enjoys videos like these.
Sitting alongside Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office on Monday, the Republican declared, “I’ll tell you who’s good. Whoever sends us those tapes that we get. They’ve become sensations in this country. The tapes. Getting out of the planes. That’s what people want to see.”
Trump added, “Good TV. Even the sound, you know. All the others. Very good.” Turning to his counterpart from El Salvador, Trump went on to say, “Cecil B. DeMille. You ever hear of Cecil B. DeMille? Great movie maker. The greatest of them all.”
CNN recently reported that elements of the administration’s deportation agenda were designed to be “camera-ready” and featured a “made-for-TV look.” Soon after, Axios published a related report that Team Trump’s immigration crackdown includes an emphasis on “choreography, photo ops, wardrobe changes and tough talk.” A White House official said the focus on “the visuals” was deliberate. The New York Times added that enforcement efforts surrounding the administration’s immigration policies are packaged “like mini reality-TV shows — complete with perp walks and even guest stars.”
The president has apparently noticed — and he seems delighted. In fact, it’s getting increasingly easy to believe that Trump administration officials are less of an executive branch and more of a theater troupe that’s principally concerned with putting on a good show.
And if there’s one official gunning for a starring role in the Republican production, it’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Wall Street Journal reported this week on the South Dakotan’s “made-for-TV style.”
On her first day on the job, Noem held a town-hall meeting to introduce herself to the workforce — and came onstage to the Trace Adkins song “Hot Mama.” She has donned Border Patrol fatigues, toted a gun and posed with airplane controls in the cockpit of a Coast Guard plane. Framed photos of the secretary, including one of her wearing a cowboy hat on horseback with border agents around her and another of her on an ATV, have gone up in different offices around DHS, according to photos seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Noem has been so eager to get in front of cameras and microphones that early on in her tenure, she accompanied ICE officials on a predawn raid and tweeted images of her efforts. The Journal added, “The problem: The raid was still ongoing when Noem posted about it, undercutting the element of surprise, according to people familiar with the operation.” Taking stock of Noem’s over-the-top photo-ops, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes noted last week that “every day is Halloween” for the DHS secretary. This coincided with a New York Times report that described Noem’s agency as the administration’s “Department of Homeland Publicity.” To be sure, Noem isn’t the only one. Attorney General Pam Bondi, for reasons that weren’t altogether clear, recently held an event in which she delivered remarks while waving around fake drugs. The president himself continues to prioritize showmanship to an unhealthy degree. But the bottom line remains the same: Americans hoping to see a White House focused more on governing, and less on theatrics and performative politics, are going to have to lower their expectations.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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