The US Department of Education has deleted a 'hype' video that appeared to compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. The department posted a video yesterday featuring a clip from 'Darkest Hour', the 2017 film starring Gary Oldman, which depicts Winston Churchill's life during the Second World War.
In the clip, Churchill says, 'You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth,' a line that references Hitler. However, the Department of Education appeared to miss this context, cutting to clips of Trump afterwards to promote the US leader as a 'tiger'. The video read, 'No one does it like us.'
Irony noted by viewers
The irony was not lost on those who saw the post before it was removed. One person wrote: 'The Department of Education being so profoundly illiterate as not to know what this scene is referring to is just beautifully poetic.'
An Education Department spokesperson said: 'The video, based on a trending sound on TikTok, was created and posted by an ED staffer who did not understand the context of the video.'
Previous concerns over government posts
Earlier this year, Americans raised alarm over what they described as increasingly concerning posts from various US government agencies that were reminiscent of Nazi Germany slogans. In January, the Department of Labour wrote on social media: 'One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American,' alongside a statue of President George Washington.
At first glance, the phrase appears harmless, but it is eerily similar to Nazi propaganda, which said 'Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer'—translated as 'One people, One Nation, One Leader.' The phrase was used on posters featuring Hitler in Nazi Germany.
White nationalist slogans in recruitment ads
There has also been evidence that the Department of Homeland Security has been posting white nationalist propaganda on its social media accounts. An investigation from the Southern Poverty Law Centre discovered white nationalist slogans in recruitment advertisements for ICE. One advertisement had the words 'We'll have our home again' placed on a photo of a cowboy. The phrase comes directly from a white nationalist song sung by a neo-Nazi group in North America.
The Department of Homeland Security has not taken down the post or addressed it. A DHS spokesperson told Metro at the time: 'Calling everything you dislike "Nazi propaganda" is tiresome. DHS 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.'
