We are waist-deep in the “Own the Libs” era and it’s embarrassing. Or, put another way, it’s “cringe”.

The latest example is an official White House post on X labelling a deportation video “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight”. ASMR, of course, being a reference to a video format popular on YouTube and TikTok, which emphasises soothing sounds. The implication here is that the sounds of the clinking chains or the sombre steps of a deported immigrant are relaxing. Pleasurable, even. Our nation’s First Redditor, Elon Musk, naturally responded with gleeful approval, commenting: “Haha wow”.

This is not about “restoring normalcy”. The Trump administration is winking at the audience, daring liberals to call them fascist or accuse them of inhumanity. They want that response. And frankly, the spectacle of these administrative manoeuvres appears to matter more than the policies themselves, at least for now. The administration approaches policy-making like entertainment.

It’s worth remembering though, that in contrast, other administrations were more muted, even as they enacted, in some cases, stricter policies. Former president Barack Obama, although critics dubbed him “Deporter-in-Chief”, consistently focused on targeting “felons, not families“. George W. Bush pushed for stronger border security too, though with much more empathetic language. Both presidents implemented tough measures and accepted the moral weight of their decisions by using careful rhetoric. One could argue that the Trump administration is “grittier”, more “real”, doing away with decorum. One could also argue that decorum or “realness” aside, provocation is far too much of a priority.

Something worth noting is that this really isn’t about policy: it’s about pageantry. Deportations under Trump’s first term were lower than the peak levels seen under Obama or Clinton. This fact raises serious questions about whether the administration’s primary aim is to enforce a tougher immigration policy or to be provocative. One wonders whether the objective is to improve border security or to generate endless viral Substack posts and X threads decrying the administration’s alleged inhumanity.

It doesn’t end at the ASMR gaffe either. Elon Musk’s DOGE, itself a worthwhile endeavour, has been overwrought with meme-laden messaging while Vice President J.D. Vance, though much more defensibly, has been responding to prominent Right-wing anons on. And shortly after the ASMR video, Trump posted an image of him wearing a crown with the caption “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” Again, this at best reads as a deliberate provocation, daring his adversaries to accuse him of veering into authoritarianism, even if he isn’t. Why? And to what end?

As philosopher Justin Smith-Ruiu has recently observed, this trend is indicative of the broader incursion of social media discourse into global politics. Smith-Ruiu argues that we have exited the “Tumblr regime”, characterised by performative social justice (performative empathy) and have entered “the 4chan regime,” or one that uses performative, shock-jock cruelty.

Sadly, the hard work of building consensus, addressing nuanced issues, and implementing effective reforms gets lost in the constant pursuit of the next viral moment. It is a move away from serious statecraft and towards a culture in which every decision is a chance to create content. Indeed all influencers who overstay their welcome eventually become lolcows — something Trump will likely learn the hard way.

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Katherine Dee is a writer. To read more of her work, visit defaultfriend.substack.com.

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