Press Covers the Offensive Fashion Choices of ICE, and the Acceptable Sexism Toward the Second Lady |
Get access to Brad Slager's "Riffed From the Headlines," a daily VIP feature where he looks to bring accountability to the mainstream media. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
Matching Media Memorandum – VARIOUS OUTLETS
The intolerance seen in political fashion.
When the field director of ICE, Greg Bovino, was recently photographed wearing a long uniform overcoat when out in the field, many on social media likened it to an oppressive SS decision. This is to be expected from the shotglass-shallow thinkers online, but for the press to undertake this line of thinking is another matter.
At The New York Times, Vanessa Friedman, the site’s political image correspondent (seriously with this?!) took on Bovino’s fashion choice and weighed in on what it all means:
Known as a greatcoat, the long, double-breasted Army-green coat with wide lapels, big metallic buttons, epaulets and insignia on the arms stands out amid the sea of bomber jackets and tactical vests worn by the ICE agents around Mr. Bovino. It is impossible to ignore. It is closely associated with the German military under Hitler. And thus it did not take long for Mr. Bovino’s coat to become, for many viewers, a sign not just of militarization but also of tyranny.
Sure, Vanessa. She takes this tack while having to admit that this type of covering was worn by numerous officers, from various nations, across multiple armed conflicts, but ALSO it was worn by the Nazis, so it perfectly fits the narrative!
Joining in the hysterics was New York Magazine, sounding like hyperactive teens when mewling over the “links drawn between ICE and Nazis.” And Politico turned to a fashion expert who was more modulated, acknowledging that multiple militaries had these coats in use, but THAT became the problem. ICE........