Like all authoritarian movements, MAGA likes to display "shock and awe" to arouse its supporters and intimidate its opponents. Why else would, say, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem attend high-profile ICE raids—and then post videos of them on her social-media accounts? It's all for show.
Likewise, responsible political movements are embarrassed by hypocrisy, but MAGA displays it as a loyalty test. Vice President J.D. Vance berated the Brits for detaining people over social media posts, then called on Americans to report people to their employers for negative posts about Charlie Kirk. And Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed to crack down on "hate speech," even though Republicans have long viewed such laws as speech controls. They know what message this sends.
The most iconic image of the administration, however, isn't an official in SWAT gear or an oleaginous Vance espousing cancel culture. It's not even the image of National Guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C. The clearest image is one of masked ICE agents emerging from unmarked cars, roughing up suspected illegal immigrants—and then "disappearing" them to an unknown location.
