Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.
In the last few months, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has earned a reputation for repeatedly dressing up in costumes while on the job.
Mention accompanied Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on multiple occasions, wearing a full protection vest along with perfectly applied hair and makeup. Noem also dressed the part while on a boat with the Coast Guard in March and even wore full firefighter regalia at a Coast Guard facility in Kodiak, Alaska.
Noem’s penchant for cosplay was so obvious that even the conservative Daily Mail pointed it out.
“Sec. Noem cosplays as a Border Patrol cowgirl at the southern border,” it said alongside a video of Noem in a cowboy hat riding a horse.
And she isn’t alone. Before shipping off to Greenland, Vice President JD Vance dressed in full sniper regalia to shoot a gun and serve Marines lunch at a military base in Virginia. In a cringeworthy post, the official White House X account hailed him for “sending some freedom seeds downrange.”
It’s not surprising, considering how much Noem and Vance’s boss loves to play dress up.
While campaigning in 2024, Trump staged a “shift” working at a McDonald’s and served up meals to pre-selected supporters. And a few weeks later, trying to deflect from racist commentary at his rallies, Trump wore a reflective sanitation worker vest, stumbling as he boarded a MAGA garbage truck.
Arguably, Trump’s most costumed appearance was during his stint as the host of “The Apprentice,” where he dressed up as a competent businessman, ignoring the string of failures that he has been involved in.
Related | Here’s where cosplaying homeland security chief will be performing next
The Republican tradition goes back for years, with figures like Ronald Reagan playing cowboy to—perhaps most disturbingly—George W. Bush and his flight suit.
Heralding the purported end of “major combat operations” in Iraq during the war in 2003, Bush dressed in a flight suitflying a jet that landed on the surface of an aircraft carrier. Timed months before his reelection campaign kicked off, the war did not end that year—and thousands of lives were lost after the stunt.
While Republicans pose as cops, ranchers, members of the military, and other occupations, they still have little to no patience for purported fashion misfires by Democrats. Whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s iconic pantsuits or President Barack Obama’s infamous tan suit, Democrats can do nothing right in the eyes of the GOP.
The reason for the right’s dress-up comes from a form of insecurity about the conservative political movement. Core to the movement is the desire to cut taxes for the super-rich. Multiple Republican presidents have passed these sorts of cuts, but the highly touted “trickle-down” effect is a myth.
A party that serves up a policy agenda meant to help the elite has to offer some sort of distraction. Cosplay is one of many ways to make Republicans appear more blue collar and relatable. Surely if Trump dresses up like a McDonald’s worker he won’t cut middle-class jobs and benefits, right?
Wrong.
The right pursues its extremist agenda regardless, assuming that the dress-up distraction will work. And, unfortunately, it does.
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