Under Tr**p, federal departments have shamefully used images and songs not meant to be mean or villainous to flaunt their power, tactics and messaging across social media.
Using music, video game themes and even comic books to convey their “tough guy” act, intimidate communities and individuals and demonstrate their racism has sadly become common practice for this administration and those who support it.
The latest example is Department of Homeland Security (DHS) using a highlight reel of former Eagles and Broncos safety Brian Dawkins to showcase its “Our time has come” operation on X, referencing its pursuit of a purported migrant caravan headed to the U.S. border.
Yet neither Dawkins nor the NFL granted them permission to use the footage, the latter sending a request to remove it from the post.
“I have very respectfully not given permission,” said the Hall of Famer to ESPN, and backed that up with a post on X.
“I have respectfully not given permission to anyone other than those I currently do business with to use my NIL. Be Blessed!” posted Dawkins.
This continues the administration’s practice of fear-mongering without remorse for who it offends and who they stole it from to accomplish its disgusting goals.
This past March, the White House combined NFL and college football highlights with footage of airstrikes in Iran in a video, only days after hitting an elementary school in the country and killing more than 100 children.
In that same month, the White House also used unauthorized imagery from Pokémon in a MAGA post on X, after which the creators of the character, Pokémon Company International, condemned the usage and demanded it be taken down.
In August, they decided to use Spider-Man imagery to tout ICE operations.
Two weeks ago, the Department of Education posted an image of white Texas fans with the caption, “Make College Football Great Again.”
This was directly supporting to the racist sentiments of vile Texas Republican Bo French, who posted a photo of Brown Texas Longhorns fans celebrating the team’s win over the Buckeyes with the caption, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
The racist sentiments of this administration, and its enabling of racist behavior, has continue to plague social media and this country.
Now they’ve brought the Hall of Famer and one of the most intimidating forces in NFL history into their shameful intimidation tactics without his, or the league’s approval.
