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Here are three absolutely amazing paragraphs from the Wall Street Journal this morning:
The Department of Homeland Security is considering being part of a television show in which immigrants would compete for potential U.S. citizenship, an idea the producer pitched as far back as the Obama administration.
Department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said she had spoken to the producer of the proposed television reality show and that consideration of the idea was ongoing.
It’s “in the very beginning stages of that vetting process,” she said, adding, “Each proposal undergoes a thorough vetting process prior to denial or approval.”
Just to emphasize: This is the Wall Street Journal. Not The Onion.
This is real, people.
And while I will admit that when a friend flagged this story to me on Thursday night my first reaction was “this can’t be true,” the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.
I have written many times in this space that the best way to think about Donald Trump’s presidency — because it’s the way he thinks about it — is as a daily reality TV show. Trump is both the star of the show and its executive producer; he thinks of each day as a programming opportunity — how can he get as many people to watch (and stay watching) as possible.
Given that, is it really all that shocking that the Trump administration would entertain the idea of an actual reality show built around his pet issue of immigration? It is not.
Also consider this: The Department of Homeland Security is led by Kristi Noem who, in her three-ish months on the job, has shown a penchant for the performative aspects of the job.
Here’s the Daily Beast on Noem:
From lipstick and bulletproof vests to cowboy hats, Kristi Noem’s work wardrobe has earned her a new nickname: “Cosplay Kristi.”
Ditching the typical White House attire, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary began her new gig by tagging along on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in full makeup, curled hair wearing a baseball ICE hat and bulletproof vest. She later joined Fox News wearing a completely different border patrol outfit—and so her first nickname came to be: ICE Barbie.
But on Sunday, 53-year-old Noem took her costume up a notch—this time, wearing a giant cowboy hat with her makeup and hair in full-glam mode on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Noem would LOVE to continue to burnish her “tough gal” image with a reality TV show. It’s actually sort of a logical extension of how she has approached the job to date.
Will this show actually happen? Probably not — especially since it is getting press attention even before it has been green-lit.
But if I have learned anything over the past decade of Donald Trump, it’s this: Never say never.
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