Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
It’s no time to cosplay politics.
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Former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger wasted no time roasting Donald Trump’s latest counterterrorism hire—and the whole world is watching.
Kinzinger, never one to mince words, took to social media with savage clarity, stating, “Reminder again: this is the 22-year-old boy Trump put in charge of preventing a terror attack at home.” As a comment pointed out, “His qualifications were being a gardener and working at a supermarket. He wasn’t even @TheRock’s stunt double.”
Who is this “lawn boy?”
That “lawn boy” in question is Thomas C. Fugate, a 22-year-old college grad appointed by Donald Trump in May 2025 as Acting Director of the DHS’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3).
Corny headshot aside, Fugate is a recent University of Texas at San Antonio graduate, where he studied politics and law. Fugate worked as a landscaper, grocery-store clerk, Heritage Foundation intern, and Trump campaign staffer. With that slim resume, Fugate was suddenly tapped to lead CP3, a DHS office responsible for coordinating $18 million in grants aimed at preventing domestic terrorism and targeted violence.
Why this matters now
The timing could not be more outrageous—or dangerous. Just days after Trump ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, U.S. intelligence agencies released alarming warnings about Iranian sleeper‑cell threats inside the U.S.
NBC News confirmed Iran sent a communiqué during the G7 summit, threatening the activation of sleeper‑cell networks if their nuclear sites were hit. Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) put alerts into effect, noting a spike in undocumented Iranian nationals and potential sympathizer activity, and noting that the threat of sleeper cells “has never been higher.”
Counterterrorism is not a weekend hobby. It isn’t about pruning boxwoods or learning how to bag groceries with a smile. It’s about locational intelligence, threat analysis, foreign operatives, and, in this dangerous environment, it demands top‑tier experience.
Kinzinger’s choice of tone says it all: We’re living in a world where counterterrorism is handled by someone without a pulse on actual terror threats—and no, being muscular enough to lift a burlap sack of potatoes doesn’t count. That makes Trump’s lawn‑boy pick downright dangerous. Ask Kinzinger, because sarcasm is the only sane reaction left.
Published: Jun 23, 2025 02:30 pm