Pearl River Maybe Trump reads the polls, maybe he doesn’t. His signature issue around immigration and controlling the border is still sort of popular when it comes to the wall and securing the border, but he’s lost the American people over the ICE Gestapo, masked raider, snatch people off the street tactics. His stormtroopers showed up in New Orleans in recent days. They picked up people on the West Bank and in the suburbs of the city. Charlotte responded aggressively. New York City is supposedly next. ICE is targeting so-called “sanctuary” cities, but as the Washington Post notes, he’s not changing policy. This all about sending a message, but the problem is that people don’t like what they are seeing or hearing. This is the way it has always been in America. You go after criminals, well, ok, maybe, but when you pick up neighbors, working people, families at church, and people doing the jobs and paying the taxes, everyone knows it’s a fine line between them and all of us, and won’t stand for it.
When you lose country music star and Navy veteran Zach Bryan, you’ve lost the base. Facebook “Reels” showed his song’s verses from the unreleased anti-ICE song while he rode his motorcycle. The report by ABC News gets it all out there, if you’ve missed all of this excitement.
Bryan shared a clip of the song over the weekend, including a caption that said “the fading of the red, white and blue.””I heard the cops came / cocky m—–f——, ain’t they,” Bryan sings in the clip of “Bad News,” which he posted to his Instagram. “ICE is gonna come bust down your door / Try and build a house no one builds no more / But I got a telephone / Kids are all scared and all alone.”
The song sparked a range of reactions as controversy over ICE raids around the country swirls.
“Stick to ‘Pink Skies,’ dude,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement in response to a request for comment about the new song, referring to Bryan’s 2024 hit single. When asked for comment on the ICE lyrics at a media briefing in Portland, Oregon, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem responded that she’s not a fan. “Zach, I didn’t listen to your music. I’m happy about that today,” she said. “That makes me very happy that I never gave you a single penny to enrich your lifestyle.”
The DHS also used Bryan’s 2020 hit song, “Revival,” in a promotional video posted on Instagram Tuesday afternoon showing ICE agents detaining people. It’s not known if the song’s use in the video was licensed.
The last note is a typical juvenile response by Noem and her department, but it won’t disguise the fact that ICE is working on borrowed time now. They have separated 600 children, a new record, from their families. The courts are still giving them fits on deportations, and Noem’s commitment to glam shots and podcast polemics aren’t going to change the level of support for these policies.
We’ll see how long she lasts as she brings Trump down with her. The clock is ticking towards the midterms.