New article in F.A.S. on the White House’s politics of dehumanization

“They walk among us”: Daniela Hombach and I discuss in the 14 June 2026 issue of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung how the White House combines conspiracy narratives, meme culture, and calls for denunciation – and puts them to political use.

The White House’s “Aliens” website deliberately exploits the double meaning of the word “alien.” Announced as the declassification of secret files about extraterrestrials, it is actually about migrants. The campaign systematically portrays them as threatening and fundamentally alien. In other words, it dehumanizes them.

Dehumanization is a well-known strategy for making violence against particular groups socially acceptable.

The website goes one step further by directly calling on users to denounce people perceived as migrants. This is state violence in gaming format.

The form of the campaign is also remarkable. It deliberately employs the tools and codes of troll and meme culture, creating a new form of fascist propaganda.

Read the article at FAZ.net (in German)

1. 

   Hombach, Daniela, und Rainer Mühlhoff. 2026. „Wie das Weiße Haus Stimmung gegen ‚Aliens‘ macht“. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Juni. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wie-das-weisse-haus-stimmung-gegen-aliens-macht-accg-200921791.html.

   Full text bibtex

   ×

   @article{Hombach-Mühlhoff2026FAZ-Aliens,
     title = {Wie das Weiße Haus Stimmung gegen „Aliens“ macht},
     author = {Hombach, Daniela and Mühlhoff, Rainer},
     date = {2026-06-14},
     journaltitle = {Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung},
     url = {https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wie-das-weisse-haus-stimmung-gegen-aliens-macht-accg-200921791.html},
     langid = {german},
     web_group = {aktuell},
     web_fulltext_pay = {https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wie-das-weisse-haus-stimmung-gegen-aliens-macht-accg-200921791.html},
     web_thumbnail = {/assets/images/teasers/2026-06-14-FAZ-Aliens.webp}
   }
   

Article image: screenshots of whitehouse.gov/aliens; source: F.A.S.

Download options and bibliographic data

1. 

   Hombach, Daniela, und Rainer Mühlhoff. 2026. „Wie das Weiße Haus Stimmung gegen ‚Aliens‘ macht“. Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Juni. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wie-das-weisse-haus-stimmung-gegen-aliens-macht-accg-200921791.html.

   Full text bibtex

   ×

   @article{Hombach-Mühlhoff2026FAZ-Aliens,
     title = {Wie das Weiße Haus Stimmung gegen „Aliens“ macht},
     author = {Hombach, Daniela and Mühlhoff, Rainer},
     date = {2026-06-14},
     journaltitle = {Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung},
     url = {https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wie-das-weisse-haus-stimmung-gegen-aliens-macht-accg-200921791.html},
     langid = {german},
     web_group = {aktuell},
     web_fulltext_pay = {https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/wie-das-weisse-haus-stimmung-gegen-aliens-macht-accg-200921791.html},
     web_thumbnail = {/assets/images/teasers/2026-06-14-FAZ-Aliens.webp}
   }