Mother Jones illustration; @WhiteHouse/X
The way the U.S. government communicates online has shifted dramatically since Donald Trump returned to power on January 20. Before then, for instance, it wasn’t likely that the official White House Twitter/X account would tweet “Go woke, go broke” over a cartoon of the president meant to look like the (original, newly restored) Cracker Barrel logo. Nor was it likely that the Department of Homeland Security would share a constant string of cruel and gross tweets, jokes, and memes about deporting immigrants, repelling “invaders,” and thinly-veiled references to white supremacist talking points. (DHS recently shared a meme bearing the phrase “Which way, American man,” a barely-altered nod to Which Way, Western Man?, a book by white supremacist author William Gayley Simpson.) And while the White House, DHS, ICE and other agencies have thrown themselves into full-time shitposting, there is one question they don’t seem to want to answer: who, exactly, is behind these messages and memes?
It’s unusual for Trump or his team to pass on an opportunity to brag.
As disinformation researcher Joan Donovan recently pointed out to Mother Jones, the often overtly bigoted, xenophobic posts emanating from the current version of the U.S. government aren’t signed or attributed to anyone in particular. “They’re most effective when they’re authorless,” Donovan said, calling the posts “classic, textbook propaganda.” It’s unusual for the administration not to take any opportunity to brag about a perceived win, but that’s what they’ve done here: the White House hasn’t, for instance, appointed a Meme Czar or made someone available to boast about the aggressive new direction their social media strategy has taken. And as I learned this week, even asking who’s writing this stuff can elicit a very strange, remarkably sloppy, and weirdly personal response.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on who’s writing their posts or directing their social media strategy. But the Department of Homeland Security did. In response to an email asking about the authorship of their social media posts—and whether the agency was aware that “Which way, American man?” is a barely-altered reference to a white supremacist text, they sent an (unsigned) email that completely ignored the former question. They demanded the message be attributed to “DHS Spokesperson” and reprinted in full.
“DHS will continue using every tool at its disposal to keep the American people informed as our agents work to Make America Safe Again,” the statement began. “Unfortunately, the American people can no longer rely on journalists like Anna Merlin [sic], who has tweeted the F-word 67 times in her illustrious career at (checks notes)… Jezebel and Mother Jones; to give them the clear unvarnished truth on the work our brave agents are doing on a daily basis. Until Mother Jones returns to relevancy (unlikely), and becomes a neutral arbiter, DHS will continue cutting through the lies, mistruths, and half-quotes to keep Americans informed.”
DHS did not respond to a follow-up email about what “F-word” they are referring to here, but if it’s the word “fuck,” 67 seems like a drastic undercount. I did not, however, count for myself the number of times I have tweeted the word “fuck” or any of its related words or phrases and so cannot vouch for the agency’s math.
“Calling everything you dislike ‘white supremacist propaganda’ is tiresome,” they added, seeming to refer to the cartoon the agency tweeted alongside the “American man” tweet, which showed a rumpled-looking Uncle Sam regarding a sign at a crossroads, bearing words like “CULTURAL DECLINE” and “INVASION,” facing opposite from words like “HOMELAND” and “OPPORTUNITY.”
“Uncle Sam, who represents America, is at a crossroads, pondering which way America should go,” the statement continues. “Under the Biden Administration America experienced radical social and cultural decline. Our border was flung wide open to a horde of foreign invaders and the rule of law became nonexistent, as American daughters were raped and murdered by illegal aliens. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem we are experiencing a return to the rule of law, and the American way of life.”
In some ways, DHS’ bizarre email isn’t a surprise, given the new breed of Trump administration flacks who are hyperaggressive, doggedly loyal, and work very hard to sound like the president. But it is a bit ironic that the posts’ authors are such a closely guarded secret; Trump’s White House has repeatedly declared itself “the most transparent administration in history,” promising a constant string of disclosures—albeit ones that don’t always pan out. (See Jeffrey Epstein.) Nevertheless, they’ve turned the transparency boast into a bit of a tagline, while churning out a constant string of videos, press releases and, of course, social media posts that claim to debunk the work of F-bomb dropping journalists like myself.
And yet, they seem remarkably reluctant to talk about who, exactly, is producing the harmful slop they’re spilling into the American political discourse. As with so many things related to the Trump administration, a great deal can be gleaned from what they don’t want to discuss.
