It begins with a photo. A young man, his eyebrow raised with slight irony, stands in front of the seal of the Department of Homeland Security. The pose: confident, almost coy. The context: shocking. Because this 22-year-old man, Thomas Fugate, is not an intern, not an observer, not a visitor on a school trip. He is the new head of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships in the United States. Thomas Fugate, who just two years ago was working at a grocery store in Texas and before that as a self-employed landscaper, has launched a political career within a few months that resembles TikTok more than public service. With no experience in counterterrorism, but with a degree in political science from the University of Texas at San Antonio, he rose - after a brief stint as a “special assistant” in the DHS immigration office - directly to the top seat of CP3, the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships.
This center is not just anything. It is the institutional heart of the U.S. domestic counterterrorism apparatus. This is where programs are coordinated to curb extremism, prevent radicalization, and connect governmental and civil society actors. And now it is led by a man who, not long ago, was tweeting about LEGO and presenting himself on Instagram as a Republican party soldier. Fugate’s political socialization reads like a parody: a fan of Donald Trump since the age of 13, intern at the Heritage Foundation (the intellectual engine room of Project 2025), selfie buddy of Madison Cawthorn, Ric Grenell, and Riley Gaines. His career is a product of social media, his qualifications a cocktail of loyalty, Instagram charisma, and ideological alignment.
That alone would be grotesque enough. But satire becomes state crisis when you consider that Fugate is inheriting the legacy of a center built with billions after 9/11 to prevent exactly what is now looming once again: the politicization of the national security apparatus. A 22-year-old with an Instagram motto like “Men used to do great things. I believe they still can” as the bulwark against terrorism? That is no longer irony—it is institutional nihilism. In any other country, this appointment would be a scandal. In Trump’s America, it is a statement. A calculated provocation, a little victory parade of deprofessionalization. Fugate’s appointment does not just signal indifference to competence—it is a deliberate attempt to undermine security structures, not through violence, but through self-promotion.
What remains? A face that likes its way through right-wing feeds. A smiley in front of the DHS logo. And a country that grows more accustomed every day to the idea that key positions are no longer awarded based on experience, but on follower counts. The threat of terrorism is real. The response? A former gardener with a party badge. Perhaps that is the real irony: it is no longer extremism infiltrating the state—the state is now simply calling it to service.
(Photo: Instagram, Thomas Fugate)
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