They're not sending their best.
An attempt at strongman propaganda exposes ICE's weakness.
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I am experimenting with turning my social media posts into little essays to publish on here. Here's one about DHS's using social media to bully someone, and, in my eyes, backfiring.
The Department of Homeland Security recently shared a photo of a person dressed in all black linking arms with protesters next to them. The post and the photo say, “They’re not sending their best.” It’s an attempt to demean and body shame a person while attempting to recruit the types of people who find that stuff funny. “We’re strong, they’re weak and fat. Come join us and you’ll get paid to beat them up,” is the gist of their pitch.
This person is straight up staring down dudes in fatigues and military gear. In the end, they’ll be on the right side of history and the nazi who runs the DHS social media account will remain an unfuckable basement dweller.
— Joey Scott (@joeyneverjoe.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T17:24:10.468Z
Performative strength is the bedrock of the Trump administration. Tough guy, Macho bullshit seeps through their policies and their speeches. It’s why they dump resources into telling everyone how strong they are with their social media posts.
Stephen Miller attempts to personify it on TV and online in his tweets. At a recent press conference in Memphis, he took the stage to tell a room full of police officers that they’re no longer held back from doing their jobs.
He continued by saying, “They think they’re tough, they have no idea how tough we are. They think that they’re hardcore, we are so much more hardcore than they are.”
If someone has to tell you how hardcore they are, then they aren’t hardcore.
Seeing federal agents pointing pepperball guns from their cars at people yelling at them doesn’t exude strength. Neither does spraying pepper spray into an inflatable frog suit. Nor are you “hardcore” if you’re attacking clergy protesting outside a detention center. That just makes you a bully, and people hate bullies.
ICE fuckin maced my frog boy that I posted the other day. 😡
— Dr. Canuck, MD (@drcanuckmd.medsky.social) 2025-10-04T05:37:50.485Z
The person in the photo posted by DHS isn’t trying to be “the best.” They’re staring down a group of armed men in fatigues and military gear backed by the full weight of the federal government. They know what they’re up against and the violence that awaits them the longer they hold their ground. They're brave, and that’s more admirable than running to social media to tell everyone how strong you are.
You don’t need to be “the best” to stand up to bullies. You just need to be brave and lock arms with other brave people.
It's not like ICE is sending their best:
In #Maryland #usa a man wearing a tactical #ICE vest taking someone into custody. During the incident a #gun falls to the ground. The scene escalates into ICE agent #pointing the #weapon at #bystanders.
— Author Krishna Prasanth Guttikonda (@krishna-author.bsky.social) 2025-09-25T22:33:06.063Z
#Ebike rocks #ICE sucks. Things you love to see.
— Alan Mac (@alanmac.bsky.social) 2025-09-29T16:43:55.976Z
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