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The term “psy-op” has become popular among far-right conspiracy theorists looking to portray liberal government officials as nefarious manipulators. It’s a military reference to “psychological operations”: essentially, nonviolent warfare meant to deceive or manipulate your enemy to gain an advantage in a conflict.
In recent months, for example, conservatives have accused Taylor Swift of being part of a liberal “psy-op” simply because she was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” — a ridiculous claim I explained live on MSNBC last year.
But the GOP’s “psy-op” accusations aren’t merely ridiculous because they’re untethered from reality — they’re also ridiculous because they’re so obviously projections. If anyone is perpetrating a “psy-op,” it’s Republicans and their cruel, calculated anti-immigration stunts: flying and busing migrants from the border to Democratic-led cities and relishing the chaos that’s caused, as well as repeatedly portraying migrants as “invaders” on right-wing media.
These are publicity stunts — mind games, propaganda — designed to engender anti-immigrant fervor among the public, and ultimately to force Democratic lawmakers to embrace less humane policies toward immigrants. To some degree, Republicans are succeeding on both fronts.
And the right-wing immigration “psy-op” doesn’t end there. Republicans made clear this week that the strategy isn’t merely to portray immigration as out of control, but also to frame the situation as a problem only a Republican administration — specifically, a Trump administration — can fix.
For example, House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed now isn’t the time for comprehensive immigration reform, even as a bipartisan group of lawmakers was nearing an agreement on an immigration package. Johnson later revealed he’s been consulting with Trump, who urged him not to take the deal. Seems like Trump wants one of his top campaign issues to stay on voters’ minds — and not to get addressed in any way — before the election. And Johnson is helping.
An internal Republican memo, obtained by The Hill after it was shared inadvertently, outlines a hasty timeline for their bogus, border-related impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The timeline leaves little room for Mayorkas to testify publicly or thoroughly dispute the GOP’s accusations. (House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green told The Hill that he wouldn’t “corroborate a memo” or confirm or deny any timeline.)
It’s quite clear, however, that Republicans want to ensure immigration remains unaddressed heading into November. They’re doing that by hampering the operations of Homeland Security via impeachment and by refusing to legislate on the issue — even as they stoke xenophobic conspiracy theories in the public imagination.
Sounds like psychological manipulation to me.