Religious imagery plays a role in a controversial new ad campaign created by the Trump administration’s Department of Labor.
This follows similar trends seen already at the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Kristi Noem. Both agencies are using Norman Rockwell-style posters that also remind viewers of a different kind of art.
Not only has the Labor Department’s ad campaign drawn comparisons to Nazi propaganda, it uses religious imagery to appeal to white Christian evangelicals, Trump’s most reliable political base.
One poster in the new series depicts a white Christian family appearing to be from the 1950s sitting on a pew together in church. The caption reads, “A Dream Worth Fighting For.” Another shows a white couple with two kids gazing at an idealized suburban home and a white-steepled church above, along with a school and a factory. The caption reads, “Our work on Project Firewall is critical in our mission to put Americans First and RESTORE THE AMERICAN DREAM.”
Project Firewall is the administration’s name for something not religious at all. As described by the Labor Department’s own news release it is “an H-1B enforcement initiative that will safeguard the rights, wages and job opportunities of highly skilled American workers by ensuring employers prioritize qualified Americans when hiring workers and holding employers accountable if they abuse the H-1B visa process.”
H-1B visas are among the most controversial aspect of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown because these are the visas major corporations — including tech companies — rely on to bring in specialized talent. The administration contends this practice is denying Americans job opportunities, a claim the big employers deny.
Now, the administration is investigating employers who use H-1B visas. “The secretary of labor will personally certify the initiation of investigations for the first time in the department’s history,” the news release says.
The poster campaign has been criticized for mirroring Nazi-era propaganda.
“The glossy, retro-styled posters feature white men in hard hats, lab coats and muscle shirts alongside slogans such as ‘America’s Future’ and ‘Your Nation Needs You!’ Critics note the deliberate absence of women and people of color, with only one poster including them — placed literally beneath a white man towering above,” says an article from The Voice. “Only one poster includes a woman and a person who may be a person of color — but neither are Black, Asian, etc. and both are literally positioned beneath a white man towering above them.”
The article continues: “The aesthetic centers white masculinity as the symbol of national strength, evoking imagery used by Nazi Germany to elevate Aryan men while erasing women and minorities from public life. In the 1930s, Joseph Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda popularized posters of blond, muscular men as the ‘ideal German worker.’ Women appeared only as mothers, while Jews, Roma and others were erased altogether. The Trump administration’s posters, Nehemiah D. Frank writes, follow a chillingly similar script: White men as the emblem of loyalty, patriotism and progress.”
That image of the America workforce ignores the reality of who’s actually working in the nation today, The Voice explains. “Women make up nearly half of U.S. workers and dominate fields like health care and education. Black, Latino, Asian and indigenous workers sustain industries from construction to agriculture to logistics. Immigrant labor powers much of the nation’s infrastructure. By erasing these contributions, the campaign signals that their work — and their future — are expendable.”
The Labor Department’s current public relations campaign also promotes data that are factually inaccurate.
Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer recently retweeted a post from Trump and commented: “President Trump’s America First agenda is creating a Golden Age of economic prosperity for our nation. Republicans have fought to keep the government open so we can continue delivering on President Trump’s mandate to make our nation an Economic Powerhouse Again.”
Despite the Republican attempt to blame Democrats for the current government shutdown, Republicans control all branches of government and polls show the American public largely blames the GOP for not working on a bipartisan solution.
The social media post from Trump retweeted by Chavez-DeRemer also pushes false information. He said: “JUST OUT: Good news for the Holiday Season. EARLY PRICES ARE DOWN, WHILE TARIFFS ARE MAKING OUR COUNTRY AN ECONOMIC POWER AGAIN. Also, virtually NO INFLATION, AS STOCK MARKETS CONTINUALLY HIT RECORD HIGHS. THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS FOR THE U.S.A.”
The reality is different, as reported by CBS News: “Manufacturers in the U.S. are cutting thousands of jobs even as President Trump pushes economic policies that he says will revitalize the industry. Employers shed 12,000 manufacturing jobs in August, while payrolls in the sector have shrunk by 42,000 since April, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress that draws on government labor data.”
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