"Last week, as the Trump administration was engulfed in controversy over its illegal military strikes near Venezuela (among numerous other crises), a Department of Homeland Security employee I picture the worst sniveling, self-satisfied, hateful loser got to work on the official X account. The state-employed memelord posted a video depicting Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officials arresting people in what appeared to be Chicago, celebrating the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants as some sort of patriotic achievement."
"Carpenter, as a pre-eminent pop star, was caught in an impossible position. Say nothing, as her friend and collaborator Taylor Swift did weeks earlier when the White House used her music in a Trump hype video, and risk appearing as if you condone the administration's use of your art for a domestic terror campaign (the administration hasn't yet used Swift for an ICE video, but I'm sure it's coming); engage, even if to honestly express your utter disgust,"
A Department of Homeland Security employee posted an ICE arrest montage on the official X account that celebrated the humiliation and incarceration of undocumented immigrants. The video used a viral Sabrina Carpenter lyric and pop-culture imagery to frame arrests as patriotic spectacle. Carpenter publicly condemned the use of her music, creating a dilemma: silence risked appearing complicit, while responding risked amplifying the propaganda. Media coverage and celebrity responses boosted views of the ICE video, increasing attention to the administration's social-media tactics. The episode shows how official accounts can weaponize culture and how public pushback can unintentionally magnify harmful messaging.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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