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On Monday, the X account for the Department of Homeland Security published one of its many recruitment posts for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It features an image, in the style of mid-20th-century propaganda posters, of Uncle Sam standing before a signpost with the words Opportunity, Homeland, and Service pointing in one direction, and Invasion and Cultural Decline pointing in the other. He ponders, in his hand, a broken-off sign labeled Law & Order.

The truly notable part of this post, however, is in its caption: “Which way, American man?”

Which Way Western Man? is the title of a 1978 book by the white nationalist William Gayley Simpson. The book promoted the classic conspiracy theory about Jewish cabals in control of global institutions, and it supported eugenics, segregation, and the deportation of Jews. It seems hard to ignore the direct connection to white nationalism in the DHS post, given its mention of “cultural decline”—a term often used by white nationalists to lament nonwhite and non-European influences on American society—and given that the subject is, ultimately, recruitment for an anti-immigrant project.

And yet, there’s space for the DHS account to proclaim........

© Slate