How the Trump administration is utilizing social media content material to control : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3840x2560+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F28%2F01%2F88f2e80046ee87ea8d9040172e72%2Fgettyimages-2255804293.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3840x2560+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F28%2F01%2F88f2e80046ee87ea8d9040172e72%2Fgettyimages-2255804293.jpg" class="img" alt="White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a printout of a social media post with pictures of alleged undocumented criminals arrested recently by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota as she speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)" fetchpriority="high"/> White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a printout of a social media submit with photos of alleged undocumented criminals arrested lately by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota as she speaks throughout a press briefing on the White Home on Jan. 15, 2026. Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photos conceal caption

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Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photos A helicopter flies low throughout the water at evening earlier than closely armed figures rappel to the bottom, take their positions and break down a door. It isn't a trailer for a film, a online game or a recap of a Pentagon operation.

As an alternative, it is a video from the Division of Homeland Safety showcasing Border Patrol brokers at work. Regardless of the combative visuals, it's captioned with the Bible verse, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be referred to as sons of God."

In President Trump's second time period, content material is governing and governing is content material. Movies like these — in addition to from pleasant influencers — are how the administration justifies its more and more aggressive immigration insurance policies.

The messaging blitz to manage the narrative has most lately been on show in Minnesota, the place a surge of brokers and the deadly capturing final week of 37-year-old Renee Macklin Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has put the White Home's on-line statements and real-life actions within the highlight.

After one other ICE-involved capturing in Minneapolis Wednesday night, movies confirmed federal brokers utilizing flash-bang grenades, pepper balls and chemical irritants towards protestors. Virtually instantly, pro-Trump influencers used clips of the incident to name for the president to invoke the Rebel Act and deploy the navy.

By Thursday morning, Trump had threatened to just do that except the "corrupt politicians of Minnesota" stopped "the skilled agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who're solely attempting to do their job." The White Home posted a picture of armed federal brokers, some carrying masks, with the caption, "STAND WITH ICE."

It isn't simply Minnesota the place the Trump administration is utilizing social media to drive its insurance policies and communicate to focused audiences.

Within the first weeks of 2026, a navy raid to grab Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro generated a flood of viral pictures and clips. Official images of Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and others confirmed that they have been additionally monitoring search outcomes for Venezuela on the social media platform X.

The Labor Division shared a graphic tagged with a well-liked QAnon conspiracy slogan urging Individuals to "Belief the Plan" whereas an ICE recruitment submit on Instagram proclaims "WE'LL HAVE OUR HOME AGAIN," attaching a music of the identical identify popularized by white supremacists.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb9%2Ff4%2F5257a5db45d3847d4c222106d075%2Fgettyimages-2254061798.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb9%2Ff4%2F5257a5db45d3847d4c222106d075%2Fgettyimages-2254061798.jpg" class="img" alt="In an image provided by the White House, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, left, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, center, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, right, monitor U.S. military operations in Venezuela on Jan. 3 from President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. On Hegseth's right is a display featuring a search for "Venezuela" on the social media platform X." loading="lazy"/> In a picture supplied by the White Home, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Gen. Dan Caine, left, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, middle, and Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth, proper, monitor U.S. navy operations in Venezuela on Jan. 3 from President Trump's Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida. On Hegseth's proper is a show that includes a seek for "Venezuela" on the social media platform X. White Home/Getty Photos conceal caption

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White Home/Getty Photos On-line and from the White Home briefing room, Vice President JD Vance chastised the media and critics, whereas the official White Home X account copied in style meme codecs to commonly assert that the USA will take over Greenland.

"The technique appears extra like steady campaigning, extra so than the managed and toned down communication we usually would affiliate with a governing administration," mentioned Yini Zhang, a College at Buffalo professor who research political communications on social media. "Quantity is a characteristic, as a result of they will submit very incessantly and so they can form agenda and framing in actual time."

The administration's posts are sometimes designed to impress a response, troll opponents and incessantly paint Democrats, immigrants and the media as threats.

"It is combative, it is extremely provocative, but it surely's additionally targeted on a really explicit type of struggle between actual Individuals — which maps on to MAGA — after which this imagined liberal different," mentioned Whitney Phillips, a professor on the College of Oregon who research how info impacts individuals. She added, "It's framed as a full-on cosmic drama between final good and supreme evil."

In a press release to NPR, White Home assistant press secretary Liz Huston mentioned "the White Home has an genuine type and unmatched communications technique as a result of it is led by the best communicator within the historical past of American politics – President Donald J. Trump."

From viral video to funding cuts in three weeks The Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which has been labeled the biggest DHS operation in historical past, was itself propelled by viral social media content material created by its allies, particularly a video created by 23-year-old YouTuber Nick Shirley that alleged widespread fraud at a number of Somali-run daycare facilities.

Shirley visited a lot of daycares unannounced with a digicam and an entourage and claimed the daycare facilities should not truly be serving kids as a result of he discovered locked doorways or workers declined to reply questions and he couldn't see if there have been youngsters inside. His particular claims are to this point unsubstantiated — state investigators discovered daycares featured within the movie working as anticipated.

Different huge fraud schemes in state social service packages are properly documented. In a federal case that started throughout the Biden administration, no less than 78 individuals, lots of them of Somali descent, have been criminally charged associated to a $250 million scheme involving a COVID-era diet program.

Vance shortly praised Shirley's video and this week, as Shirley launched a second one, the White Home posted, "The movies from Nick Shirley have shed large gentle on the scenario in Minnesota."

In latest weeks, the Trump administration has introduced unprecedented efforts to withhold federal funding for Minnesota and different Democratic-led states, although courts have to this point blocked most of these makes an attempt. Trump additionally threatened Tuesday to halt funds to "sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities" subsequent month.

The administration additionally introduced the top of Momentary Protected Standing for Somali nationals on Tuesday and included a meme referencing a Somali pirate from a Tom Hanks film. Trump then posted on his personal social media web site, defending ICE and warning there was extra to come back: "FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!"

The Homeland Safety X account this week shared a "reminder" from White Home deputy chief of workers for coverage Stephen Miller that ICE officers "have federal immunity within the conduct of your duties," indicating the administration has no intention of attempting to decrease the temperature.

However authorized students have identified that federal brokers don't have absolute immunity and might be prosecuted for crimes, with some exceptions.

"Anyone who lays a hand on you or tries to cease you or tries to impede you is committing a felony," Miller mentioned on Fox Information. "You could have immunity to carry out your duties and nobody — no metropolis official, no state official, no unlawful alien, no leftist agitator or home insurrectionist — can stop you from fulfilling your authorized obligations and duties."

A rush to judgment Video footage from Jan. 7 reveals Renee Macklin Good, a U.S. citizen, was blocking a lane in her SUV on a Minneapolis road when ICE agent Jonathan Ross circled her automotive and two different brokers then ordered her out of her automobile. One agent tried to open the motive force's aspect door. Good briefly reversed her automotive, turned her steering wheel to the suitable which turned her wheels away from Ross, who at that time was close to the entrance left of the automotive, and drove ahead.

Ross fired his gun, fatally capturing Good. DHS officers have instructed media retailers, together with NPR, that Ross suffered inner bleeding from being struck by the automotive. The company has not responded to NPR's questions in regards to the extent of the accidents.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz blamed the Trump administration for escalating tensions. "What we're seeing is the results of governance designed to generate concern, headlines, and battle," Walz mentioned at a press convention after the capturing. "It is governing by actuality TV, and as we speak that recklessness price somebody their life."

A number of movies of the capturing from totally different angles — together with the video Ross had recorded on his personal cellular phone in a single hand as he fired his gun along with his different — have been shared on-line and included right into a sea of content material from administration officers aimed toward justifying the capturing.

As an alternative of awaiting an investigation to find out the information about Good's dying, the Trump administration's speedy response left no room for nuance or debate. Inside hours, Trump posted to his social media platform that Good "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer," including that "it's laborious to imagine he's alive."

Vance referred to as Good a "deranged leftist," mentioned "no person debates" that she aimed her automotive on the officer and put her foot on the accelerator, and scolded journalists on X for "mendacity" in regards to the "harmless" ICE officer.

What the press has performed in mendacity about this harmless legislation enforcement officer is disgusting. You need to all be ashamed of yourselves. https://t.co/IfXAAxi9Ql

— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 9, 2026

4 days later, when it was clear that many Individuals and media retailers had interpreted the video proof in another way, a DHS company spokesperson made a video reinforcing the administration's narrative and attempting to discredit different interpretations. "The nonstop lies and smears from the FAKE NEWS are supposed to tear down our courageous women and men who defend our homeland day by day," learn the caption.

The swiftness of the Trump administration's very on-line effort to manage the narrative of the capturing has annoyed critics, together with Michael Brodkorb, a former officer of the Minnesota Republican Celebration who says the emphasis on "management by social media" shouldn't be serving to soothe tensions.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1253x835+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F95%2Fd1%2F0791dd9e487398ce8225feaf95f5%2Fgettyimages-2255536602.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1253x835+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F95%2Fd1%2F0791dd9e487398ce8225feaf95f5%2Fgettyimages-2255536602.jpg" class="img" alt="A federal officer stands guard as protestors gather while ICE operates in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis on Jan. 13, 2026. Hundreds more federal agents were heading to Minneapolis, the US homeland security chief said on January 11, brushing aside demands by the Midwestern city's Democratic leaders to leave after an immigration officer fatally shot a woman protester. In multiple TV interviews, US Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem defended the actions of the officer who shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, whose death has sparked renewed protests nationwide against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. (Photo by Octavio JONES / AFP via Getty Images)" loading="lazy"/> A federal officer stands guard as protestors collect whereas ICE operates in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis on Jan. 13, 2026. Octavio Jones/AFP through Getty Photos conceal caption

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Octavio Jones/AFP through Getty Photos "There was no cause in any respect I believe from a public coverage standpoint, from a legislation enforcement standpoint or from an investigative matter, to exit and body what occurred in such blunt, uncooked language — aside from for content material to energise of us on social media and to whip them up right into a lather," Brodkorb mentioned.

Brodkorb mentioned the movies that doc earlier than, throughout and after the capturing provides individuals extra info and perspective about what occurred, however on the similar time a broader on-line battle round Minnesota — like Trump calling individuals from Somalia "rubbish" — means there isn't any humanity within the dialogue.

"We have misplaced the power to creatively and constructively take into consideration issues," he mentioned. "Vital considering is simply gone. It is out the window, and it is changing into increasingly tough for individuals to, in essence, name balls and strikes pretty typically and issues that we're seeing proper in entrance of our eyes with out being lobbed into one camp or one other."

The present political setting has switched from being coverage pushed to narrative pushed, the place somebody's perspective on a difficulty is decided by the get together they voted for as an alternative of what they may very well be persuaded to imagine, mentioned Larry Schack, a political strategist who lately printed an evaluation of the 2024 election with the College of Virginia's Heart for Politics.

"We discovered that voters have largely deserted issue-by-issue evaluation," he wrote this week. "As an alternative, they undertake broad partisan narratives that form their understanding of every little thing, together with — as we're seeing in actual time — the fundamental information of a capturing captured on video."

Schack instructed NPR that a rise of political messaging that reinforces division is "the kind of setting by which democracy over time turns into unsustainable."

Within the case of the Minnesota capturing, Schack mentioned the speedy leap to partisan conclusions meant that proof "would not exist to tell, the proof exists to create and broaden and blow out the narratives that assist the predominant view of every aspect."

Trump's rise to energy has been accelerated by the web The Trump administration's governance by content material creation technique is in some methods the logical conclusion for a president whose 2016 marketing campaign was formed by headline-grabbing social media posts, is now the proprietor of a social media web site, and whose return to the White Home was propelled partly by the rising affect of right-wing content material creators and podcasters in addition to the algorithms of websites like X.

Whereas the early days of 2026 have been dominated by an particularly intense digital presence from the Trump administration, its perpetually on-line technique has been central to key initiatives from the beginning of his second time period.

The Division of Authorities Effectivity effort that spent a lot of 2025 making an attempt to overtake the federal government was impressed by a longstanding on-line meme and overseen by Elon Musk, the proprietor of the social media platform X.

DOGE's efforts to cancel federal contracts, hearth federal employees and acquire unprecedented entry to delicate information on tens of millions of Individuals have been themselves fueled by on-line solutions on X and defended in social media content material that relied on overstated and inaccurate claims of fraud.

The always-online focus can also be evident within the Trump administration's staffing. A number of administration officers had massive followings as on-line influencers earlier than becoming a member of authorities, together with Dan Bongino who lately left the FBI and has promised to begin podcasting once more. Final month, Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant legal professional common for civil rights, grumbled on X that her follower depend was not rising. "What sort of content material do my of us need to see extra of to love and share?" she posted.

I’ve been caught on the similar stage of followers on this account just about since I began my authorities job. What, am I chopped liver over right here?

What sort of content material do my of us need to see extra of to love and share?

— Harmeet Okay. Dhillon (@HarmeetKDhillon) December 6, 2025

The results of getting senior authorities officers compulsively posting on-line is a priority for Don Moynihan, a professor at College of Michigan's Ford College of Public Coverage, who referred to as the fusion of posting and coverage a "clicktatorship."

"Spending extreme time on-line results in extra excessive conduct in an unrealistic and more and more poisonous setting — simply to maintain the dopamine coming," Moynihan wrote in his publication. "These bubbles are far worse for the wealthy and highly effective, who have already got restricted contact with individuals not beholden to them. It hardly wants stating that that is lower than excellent for a consultant authorities."

Within the final yr, the Trump administration has come to view influencers and partisan journalists as a main viewers it must cater to. It holds particular briefings for them, provides them entry to Cupboard members and invitations them on ICE ride-alongs.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5095x3396+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F15%2F8a%2F5ff7d074466ab903774ad4f767e2%2Fgettyimages-2240004977.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5095x3396+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F15%2F8a%2F5ff7d074466ab903774ad4f767e2%2Fgettyimages-2240004977.jpg" class="img" alt="Pro-Trump social media influencer James Klug, center, speaks during a roundtable discussion at the White House in October 2025." loading="lazy"/> Professional-Trump social media influencer James Klug, middle, speaks throughout a roundtable dialogue on the White Home in October 2025. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos conceal caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos One occasion final yr, to debate antifa, the far-left ideology opposing fascism, happened after pro-Trump influencers amplified protests in Portland over ICE and portrayed town as a warfare zone requiring navy intervention. The invitees included Nick Shirley. Some influencers urged Trump to designate antifa as a international terrorist group. The next month the State Division issued the designation for 4 European leftist teams.

"It's important to take into consideration the political influencers as being fairly aligned and a part of that propaganda machine, partly due to the incentives and the entry that they must the administration," mentioned Renée DiResta, a professor at Georgetown College who research on-line adversarial abuse, affect and propaganda.

"And that, I believe that is not usually how individuals have considered propaganda. They considered it extra as a high down media, if something, or state media. However this intersection with the creator and the administration is altering what that phrase means and the way that relationship operates."

Lots of those self same on-line influencers at the moment are sharing video of clashes between protesters and federal brokers in Minneapolis.

"What drives consideration greater than ever is battle, animosity," Brodkorb, the Minnesota Republican, mentioned. "And that is simply not a technique to clear up issues, and it could actually simply inflame a scenario. And what we're seeing proper now in Minnesota is precisely that."

Profitable the web – however not public opinion? The Trump administration's social media-first technique has performed a task in quite a few different controversies within the final yr, typically involving AI-generated pictures and movies to troll political opponents, together with a video that purported to indicate Trump piloting a fighter jet and dropping poop on a Democratic commentator and anti-Trump protesters.

The Division of Homeland Safety specifically has come beneath hearth for repeated posts that reference extremist and neo-Nazi materials, and in latest days the Division of Labor and the White Home have additionally posted content material that embody such canine whistles.

However catering to its most fervent on-line supporters has additionally generally backfired on the administration. In the course of the 2024 marketing campaign, Trump and his allies embraced conspiracies about Jeffrey Epstein and vowed to launch all the authorities's details about Epstein, who died by suicide whereas in jail awaiting trial on prices of sexually abusing and trafficking kids. Trump's marketing campaign prompt Democrats have been behind efforts to maintain the reality from the general public.

As soon as in workplace, Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi invited a bunch of pro-Trump influencers to obtain binders that supposedly included half one of many Epstein recordsdata, just for it to be revealed that they included little new materials. Trump then spent a lot of the yr attacking his supporters' requires the paperwork to be launched.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7040x4688+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F48%2F5a%2F19da574141fab064d3a527f61567%2Fgettyimages-2201630857.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7040x4688+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F48%2F5a%2F19da574141fab064d3a527f61567%2Fgettyimages-2201630857.jpg" class="img" alt="Political influencer Rogan O'Handley, known online as DC Draino, center, next to influencers Jessica Reed Kraus on the left and Chaya Raichik, right, carry binders bearing the seal of the U.S. Justice Department reading "The Epstein Files: Phase 1" as they walk out of the the White House in February 2025. The administration mostly released old materials to the influencers, leading to disappointment and strains within Trump's coalition." loading="lazy"/> Political influencer Rogan O'Handley, recognized on-line as DC Draino, middle, subsequent to influencers Jessica Reed Kraus on the left and Chaya Raichik, proper, carry binders bearing the seal of the U.S. Justice Division studying "The Epstein Recordsdata: Part 1" as they stroll out of the the White Home in February 2025. The administration largely launched outdated supplies to the influencers, resulting in disappointment and strains inside Trump's coalition. Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photos conceal caption

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Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photos The frustration and outrage amongst some Trump supporters about his dealing with of the Epstein paperwork in the end led to a small rise up amongst congressional Republicans, who accredited near-unanimous laws requiring the federal authorities to launch nearly all the knowledge it has about Epstein after Trump relented to the strain.

The White Home posting type has additionally impressed some opponents, most notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and extra lately New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, to imitate Trump's trolling antagonism.

However this coarsening of the political discourse can have grave penalties and result in extra polarization, Zhang of the College at Buffalo warns.

"Extra individuals is perhaps repelled by politics and may tune out of politics and political information as a result of they're simply disgusted with the cruel rhetoric and this sort of like infinite finger pointing and blaming from either side," Zhang mentioned.

On the similar time, latest viral movies of masked federal brokers in Minneapolis utilizing aggressive techniques, together with smashing automotive home windows and dragging individuals out of them, might immediate some Individuals who had stopped following the information this yr to tune again in.

On Wednesday night, Walz urged Minnesotans to make use of their cell telephones to make extra movies of ICE brokers' abuses.

"Assist us create a database of the atrocities towards Minnesotans — not simply to ascertain a report for posterity, however to financial institution proof for future prosecution," Walz mentioned.

Movies that present issues that Individuals aren't used to seeing are laborious to disregard, mentioned Phillips of the College of Oregon.

"The irony may in the end be that if the administration has harnessed for their very own profit the algorithms and trending subjects — that these exact same issues is perhaps what in the end turn out to be a part of their undoing when individuals see it after which suppose, 'Oh, God,'" Phillips mentioned.