Recent reports highlight how Donald Trump’s allies are using his bigotry-fueled crackdown on immigrants as an opportunity to produce and promote MAGA propaganda.
As Los Angeles Times television editor Maira Garcia reported Monday, talk show host Phil McGraw — better known as Dr. Phil — has essentially used his television network, MeritTV, to put a positive spin on raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While some outlets reported that McGraw himself had embedded with ICE agents during their raids in Los Angeles — like he had with previous raids — Garcia confirmed that members of his production team were the ones present, to capture footage, and that McGraw instead conducted an interview with Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, and hung out in a Department of Homeland Security field office as the raids were underway.
In other words, McGraw and his team were granted prime access on the ground to help the administration spin its story. And such influencers are proving essential in whipping up right-wing hysteria over immigrants, as Reuters reported last year.
The interview with Homan on McGraw’s network features some of the footage his team captured during the raids, and McGraw himself peddles a fair amount of propaganda. At one point, for example, he alleged without evidence that one of the businesses raided had been operating as a front for foreign cartels — a claim that even Homan had to say was still under investigation.
But this whole setup underscores the Trump administration’s apparent obsession with turning immigration enforcement into some sort of made-for-TV spectacle. As The Washington Post reported Tuesday, the White House recently posted footage of an ICE raid on its Instagram account that garnered backlash for its “reality show” feel: The White House last month posted a video that it said showed an “EPIC takedown of 5 illegal aliens” outside a home improvement store and included an ICE hotline to solicit more tips. The clip, recorded by ICE agents’ cameras, was liked 68,000 times but also drew criticism from commenters, who called it “disturbing” and said this “isn’t a reality show.” Also in May, Homeland Security officials confirmed there had been talks within the department about potentially launching a reality show centered on people trying to obtain American citizenship. And just last year, Trump openly floated his idea to have a “migrant league of fighters” that would be pitted against trained mixed martial arts fighters. All of these ideas appear to be part of an effort to dehumanize immigrants in the eyes of many Americans, by portraying them more as seedy characters in a TV show — like criminals on “Cops,” perhaps — rather than people worthy of dignity and due process.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
Latest Post
Recommended
