“Defend the Homeland. One Nation. One Homeland. One Team.”
The post also included the phrase “Our Soil” alongside a U.S. flag emoji, framing the team’s victory in explicitly nationalistic terms.
You can see it below.
@DHSgov/X
Critics quickly seized on what they saw as a contradiction between the administration’s rhetoric and the composition of the U.S. team, pointing out that roughly a quarter of the squad was born outside the United States.
They also highlighted the case of striker Folarin Balogun, noting that under President Trump’s proposed move to end birthright citizenship, he would likely be ineligible for U.S. citizenship at all.
DHS' post comes as the country awaits a pivotal ruling from the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule by late June in Trump v. Barbara, a case challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
The case centers on the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which has long been interpreted to grant citizenship to anyone born in the United States—aside from a narrow exception for children of foreign diplomats. Trump has argued that this interpretation is unique to the U.S., though data from the CIA World Factbook shows roughly 30 countries also recognize birthright citizenship.
DHS, meanwhile, continues its widespread immigration crackdown and ICE agents continue to commit human rights abuses against citizens and non-citizens alike.
As recently as April, the White House was criticized for sharing an image to rebrand ICE agents as "NICE" agents, including a poster of an agent kneeling next to a child that has been condemned as blatant propaganda.
To make matters worse, paint has reportedly begun peeling from the floor of the Reflecting Pool. The New York Times linked the problem to a separate $14.7 million no-bid contract awarded to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings under a claim of urgent need.
The company was hired to apply a blue waterproof coating to the pool's concrete floor, but the coating has since shown signs of deterioration, raising further questions about the emergency contracting process and the quality of the work performed.
Trump has gone so far as to claim that "vandals" used "probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind" to make a "slit" in the pool's paint job, though he did not provide any proof to back this up.
After ABC News reported Monday that Trump continued to blame vandals for the peeling paint and other problems at the Reflecting Pool, while noting that he "provided no evidence of vandalism himself," he took to Truth Social to attack the network:
"In describing the Vandalism that took place at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., ABC FAKE NEWS, one of the worst in the business, even paying me $16,000,000 for past bad and inaccurate reporting, failed to report that their close 'friends,' Dumocrats Obama and Biden, spent over 100 Million Dollars on the Reflecting Pool, and it never worked."
"In fact, it was rarely open do to leaks and 'stench.' They wanted to spend 300 to 400 Million Dollars, but just let it ROT. I spent approximately 16 Million Dollars, and it came out great, except for the Vandalism, which we are now fixing. It was also a much bigger job than originally envisioned, including the outer areas and sidewalks."
"We are preparing lawsuits against ABC for false reporting. I like their money, which will be given to the U.S. Treasury!"
You can see his post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump's post came hours after he claimed in remarks to White House correspondents gathered in the Oval Office that former President "Barack Hussein Obama spent over two years and $100 million on trying to fix" the Reflecting Pool. Trump claimed Obama took "water from the river" described as "putrid" that "destroyed the whole thing."
After defending his administration's work on the Reflecting Pool, he said he "can't help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up." He claimed evidence would be presented "in court" and that reporters should simply reach out to the Parks Department to find out more.
Trump was harshly criticized following his outburst.
Trump's hostility toward ABC News is well documented.
The network agreed to pay him $15 million, along with an additional $1 million in legal fees, to settle a defamation lawsuit stemming from comments made by George Stephanopoulos regarding E. Jean Carroll.
Trump also singled out ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl in April over his book, Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America. During his criticism, Trump once again branded ABC as "fake news" and boasted about the settlement, mockingly referring to the case as the "Slopadopolus error."
Figures he'll act this way—don't expect to see any proof of this "vandalism" while Trump creates another distraction.
SZA is the latest among these musicians. The rapper and singer has released more than 50 standalone music tracks in her career, and there are many others that are either unreleased or in production.
She took to her private “notmusicatalliswear” Instagram account on Saturday to criticize artists who use AI music generators such as Suno. She said in her post that producer Diplo had equity in the company and was trying to train it on “the best and brightest black minds of writers and producers.”
She captioned the video:
“We make up 13% of the American population yet influence the world w our sound and perspective. I AINT HEARD A WHITE AI SONG YET…We have no protection in legislature medical or creative. The easiest to steal from. DO NOT GIVE AWAY YOUR VIBRANIUM !!! DO NOT TRAIN AI W YOUR GENIUS.”
According to her search of a music database that trains AI, allegedly 238 files were uploaded, meaning that songs that were available to the general public and songs that only SZA and a small number of other people would have access to for production purposes had been shared on the platform.
She also vented her frustration on her main Instagram account and called out the issue in her Stories:
"Jus [sic] checked and music Ai has trained off 238 of my songs. Im certain some unreleased."
"If your [sic] a musician and you support this degenerate s**t?"
"Your [sic] DISGUSTING and there’s NOTHING YOU COULD EVER SAY TO ME TO MAKE THIS OKAY."
"I hope u have the life u deserve."
SZA's story was shared on X, where users were divided over her concerns about AI. Some shared her anger and agreed that AI-generated music and other products were becoming an increasing problem.
Others were dismissive and said SZA was already rich enough and that AI tools were "inevitable."
While people might criticize SZA and claim she's being selfish with her art, it's still her art. Whether an artist is a big name or not shouldn't matter when it comes to consenting to share work.
If AI's going to exist, there should at least be limits in place that hold platforms and their owners accountable.
