...when prisoners or hostages were used for propaganda, trotted out for the cameras by ISIS, the Viet Cong, the North Vietnamese, by Iran.

Rightly so. Such photo-ops are contemptible.

Until the Trump administration when U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had prisoners assembled behind her at the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in Tecoluca, El Salvador, their heads shaved, shirtless, crammed into a cell.

One of the standards dictated by the Geneva Conventions is this: Prisoners may not be publicly exploited for purposes of propaganda.

Yet here we are.

We are now the bad guys.

Any Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) fans here? Andrew Marlin wrote a song that perfectly reflects this moment: The Wolves. He wrote it back in 2018 about the Statue of Liberty and the travel ban but it works today, too. Here's one stanza and chorus:

There she stands, so tall and mighty
Her gaze facing the East
At her back our doors are closing
As we grin and bare our teeth
On the wind the wolves are howling
She cries to draw them near
Well turn around, turn around my darling
Oh, the wolves are here

Everything's so great, can't get better
Makes me wanna cry
But I'll go out howling at the moon tonight

The Wolves: YouTube: Mandolin Orange- The Wolves (Wheeliefun)