This week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a controversial video that lionizes the work of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which it suggests is aimed at delivering divine justice to evildoers. The video quotes Isaiah 6:8, which describes the prophet's acceptance of a mission from God, and includes an excerpt from the folk song "God's Gonna Cut You Down."
Critics of the video charged DHS with blasphemy for invoking the Bible and God's will to sanctify CBP and, by implication, the Trump administration's immigration policies. But the puzzles posed by the department's propaganda go beyond its dubious claim of divine authority, especially when you consider the details of Isaiah's mission.
Although no one would mistake President Donald Trump for a religious man, the video is consistent with his grandiose self-image. "I believe that my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good reason," Trump said in his March 4 address to Congress, referring to the attempted assassination in Pennsylvania last July. "I was saved by God to make America great again. I believe that."
