On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, shared a photo of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaking at a news conference.
The Homeland Security-branded podium Noem stood behind included the words, “One of ours. All of yours,” a phrase that some online started to link to fascism and Nazis murdering residents of a Czech village during World War II.
“Even if Noem has no idea what this means, the fact that *anyone* in the Admin would put a Nazi slogan on public display is incredibly alarming—and points to the moral rot at the heart of DHS,” Pingree wrote.
The historical evidence linking the phrase on Noem’s podium to something Nazis uttered at the time was suspect. Federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security cast the claim of extremism as “tiresome” and signaled they will continue promoting Trump’s agenda through their preferred methods.
But the post renewed scrutiny on symbols and imagery used by Trump officials as they continue their unprecedented immigration crackdown. Those, like Pingree, accusing Trump and his allies of intentionally promoting extremist messages have warned it could lead to dangerous outcomes.
It’s not an entirely new dynamic. Trump’s critics have bashed him since his first term for what they view as his embrace of far-right and antisemitic voices. They point to remarks he made in the wake of the violent 2017 rally that included neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Experts on extremism and a Jewish leader in Maine said there are many recent examples of Trump and his agencies using extremist imagery as well.
In an October video promoting deportations, Noem’s department included a “Moon Man” character that has become associated with neo-Nazis online. The U.S. Labor Department made a Facebook post last week that said, “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage,” which critics noted evokes a Nazi phrase that translates to, “One People. One Realm. One Leader.”
In response to recent criticism, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it will “continue to use all tools to communicate with the American people and keep them informed on our historic effort to Make America Safe Again.”
“Calling everything you dislike ‘Nazi propaganda’ is tiresome,” the statement read.
Karyn Sporer, an associate professor at the University of Maine who studies extremism, said Trump’s two election victories signaled to far-right and extremist groups that their “worldview was no longer confined to the internet.”
The administration’s more provocative social media posts serve as “recruitment tools, and they are symbols of belonging,” Sporer added.
Brian Kresge, the president of Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor and an Army veteran, said the official messaging from federal agencies “tickles me the wrong way.”
Kresge, who ran for the Maine House of Representatives in 2018 as a Republican, noted that as violent antisemitic acts make headlines, the Jewish community may wonder “when’s the other shoe going to drop?”
“It’s only going to get worse,” Kresge said.
