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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ignited a wave of controversy on Thursday, October 23, 2025, after posting a peculiar video across its social media channels. The footage depicts federal agents apprehending protesters in Portland, Oregon, set to a musical backdrop. What quickly drew widespread criticism was the song choice, an edited version of MGMT’s “Little Dark Age,” which has gained significant popularity among Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists, particularly during the latter part of former President Donald Trump’s initial term. Critics immediately flagged the video as a potential “dog whistle” aimed at far-right extremist groups.
Accompanying the video on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, DHS included the caption, “End of the Dark Age, beginning of the Golden Age,” coupled with a link directing users to the ICE recruitment website. This same content was also shared on Bluesky, a platform recently adopted by several federal agencies, purportedly to engage its predominantly liberal user base.
The track in question, MGMT’s “Little Dark Age,” originally released in 2018, was significantly slowed down in the DHS rendition. Despite the song’s lyrics themselves containing no inherent far-right leanings—and, in fact, often interpreted as critical of such ideologies—it was conspicuously co-opted by various far-right content creators in late 2020. These creators frequently paired the track with disturbing Nazi and white supremacist imagery, effectively rebranding it within extremist circles.
This troubling association was highlighted in a 2021 study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a British think tank specializing in online extremism. The ISD report documented the song’s widespread adoption by Nazi sympathizers, citing instances such as its use on TikTok alongside slideshows featuring George Lincoln Rockwell, the deceased founder of the American Nazi Party.
Furthermore, the ISD’s findings revealed the song’s utility in promoting esoteric Nazism, frequently appearing in memes and alongside fictional characters emblazoned with far-right symbols like the Sonnenrad (Black Sun). The notably exaggerated slowdown of the song in the DHS video itself echoes a common stylistic trait observed in viral far-right videos from the early 2020s, further intensifying concerns about deliberate signaling.
Paradoxically, the lyrics of “Little Dark Age” actually appear to critique themes often associated with the far-right, including instances of police violence. A sample of the lyrics reads:
Policemen swear to God, love seeping from their guns
I know my friends and I would probably turn and run
If you get out of bed, come find us heading for the bridge
Bring a stone, all the rage, my little dark age
As The Guardian noted in a 2024 article addressing the far-right’s appropriation of the song, “Certainly, its adoption doesn’t say much for your average neo-Nazi’s ability to understand English. Little Dark Age’s lyrics are, fairly obviously, an excoriation of Trump-era America and racist police violence.”
When approached for comment, a DHS spokesperson responded with a dismissive and “very online” statement, characteristic of similar prior incidents. “Just because you don’t like something doesn’t make it Nazi propaganda—this is bottom barrel ‘journalism.’ MGMT’s ‘Little Dark Age’ is wildly popular on both sides of the political spectrum. Go outside, touch grass, and get a grip,” read the unsigned email. The agency further attempted to downplay the concerns by providing a link to a 2022 Spin magazine article about the song, specifically highlighting a quote from MGMT co-founder Ben Goldwasser: “A lot of times, there is no deeper meaning.” DHS declined to answer follow-up inquiries regarding the video’s creation.
Such a response from DHS aligns with a pattern of “plausible deniability” often employed by entities accused of signaling to the far-right. Since President Trump’s return to office in January, the Department of Homeland Security has increasingly published content that critics describe as having fascist undertones, raising concerns about the agency’s perceived shift towards more extreme messaging.
This isn’t an isolated incident for DHS. In August, Border Patrol, a component of DHS, drew ire for an Instagram and Facebook video featuring antisemitic lyrics, including phrases like “Jew me” and “kike me.” Although the video was eventually removed and re-uploaded with different music, the agency offered no substantive explanation for its initial posting, issuing only a perfunctory statement.
On social media, the implications of using “Little Dark Age” were not lost on observers. As early as July, a right-wing political commentator on X had explicitly suggested, “DHS should drop a little dark age edit just to fuck with people,” indicating an awareness of the song’s controversial connotations. Indeed, numerous far-right accounts on X immediately recognized and celebrated the intended message behind the DHS video.
One account, featuring an anime character in a Nazi hat, reacted with, “Dhs is posting little dark age edits. Crazy timeline on our hands,” underscoring the perceived alignment. Another extremist account quote-tweeted the DHS video, stating, “Good job @DHS! You caught up to were we where 4 years ago!” This post chillingly accompanied an unrelated video featuring Adolf Hitler with the text “12 years not a slave,” and a screenshot from the livestreamed terrorist attack by white supremacist Brenton Tarrant in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, which claimed 51 lives.
Beyond the contentious song choice, the visual elements of the Homeland Security “Little Dark Age” edit further fuel speculation about deliberate messaging. The video employs haunting imagery, including footage from protests at an ICE facility in Portland, alongside a distinctive glitchy aesthetic. This visual style is notably prevalent among “fashwave” creators – a term where “fash” explicitly refers to fascist – known for propagating far-right digital content. Key visual features in the DHS video include an “antifa” logo symbolically replaced by the DHS emblem, as well as scenes of agents in gas masks conducting arrests amidst smoke, all contributing to a stark and ominous tone.
While discussions involving niche “fashwave” aesthetics and obscure corners of the internet might seem trivial to some, dismissing them as mere “internet memes” overlooks a significant reality. A distinct visual and auditory language has demonstrably evolved within far-right online communities. Consequently, despite the DHS’s insistence that their video was not intended as Nazi propaganda, the undeniable interpretation by numerous literal Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists online speaks volumes, suggesting a deliberate or at least deeply negligent use of widely recognized extremist cultural touchstones.