Mother Jones Senior Reporter Anna Merlan says the White House got curiously intense when she asked them to identify the person (or persons) in charge of their social media accounts.
The way the U.S. government communicates online has shifted dramatically since President Donald Trump returned to power, reports Merlan, who points out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn’t used to 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.”
Merlan said 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.” Disinformation researcher Joan Donovan told Mother Jones: “They’re most effective when they’re authorless,” and described them as “classic, textbook propaganda.”
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But when Merlan asked the White House for comment on who’s writing their posts or directing their social media strategy, it was the Department of Homeland Security that intercepted the question.
“And as I learned this week, even asking who’s writing this stuff can elicit a very strange, remarkably sloppy, and weirdly personal response,” Merlan wrote.
“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,” the unknown respondent wrote. “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.”
And there was more, said Merlan.
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“Calling everything you dislike ‘white supremacist propaganda’ is tiresome,” the respondent said, possibly referring to a Homeland Security ICE recruitment ad featuring a cartoon Uncle Sam studying a crossroads sign pointing the ways to “cultural decline” and “invasion,” alongside “homeland” and “opportunity.”
“… 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,” the respondent said. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem we are experiencing a return to the rule of law, and the American way of life.”
None of this contained a name, Merlan pointed out. She said the administration didn’t even confirm the “F-word” that appeared to irritate them so much. But she did find it “ironic that the posts’ authors are such a closely guarded secret” considering “Trump’s White House has repeatedly declared itself “the most transparent administration in history.”
Read the full Mother Jones report at this link.
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