Why is Dr. Phil embedded with ICE?
The legacy of 00s television extends beyond Trump
Through my book research I have become increasingly anti-Oprah.
Her role in launching the careers of pseudoscientific crackpot wellness grifters is far from breaking news. But the self-help genre has come up again and again in my work seeking to understand how digital media pulled young people to the right in the 2024 election and she is a singular figure in that realm. Self-help’s cultural dominance is both overwhelming in scale and largely invisible: the $10 billion a year industry is a constant feature, it only grows and specializes, morphing to capitalize on new trends, new niche identities, new public woes. Health, fitness, and wellness were at the forefront of the Trump campaign, with platforms like the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Make America Healthy Again movement dominating the digital media landscape. A lot of the quakery we’re seeing today can be, in one or another, traced back to Oprah.
Of course, Oprah brought us the scourge that is Mehmet Oz, A.K.A. Dr. Oz. As a regular guest on her show before getting his own, he adopted the nickname “America’s Doctor,” known in our living rooms for always selling the latest and greatest products to help us lose weight and improve health and happiness. Even before his debased foray into Republican politics, Oz was the subject of numerous controversies stemming from his sensational, often unsubstantiated claims about supposed “miracle” treatments for common ailments, including obesity, heart disease, depression, and cancer.
Like so many 00s pop culture figures anxious over their sagging celebrity status, Oz entered conservative politics, endorsing Trump and running and losing a 2022 senate race in Pennsylvania. Now this asshole is the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. He recently told Fox Business that under the GOP’s Death Cult Budget Bill’s proposed work requirements people will allowed to keep their Medicaid if they can “prove that they matter.”
This week I saw that Dr. Phil has embedded himself with ICE … again.
Phil McGraw, who did not go to medical school1, also became a household name through The Oprah Winfrey Show, appearing regularly on the program before getting his eponymous program. Now, I can always tell I’m a little depressed when I start watching Dr. Phil reruns. The active choice to allow that man’s haunting visage into my beloved little bachelorette pad is always a red flag that something’s wrong. In my latest return to his iconic daytime series, I’ve noticed that much of the content revolves around negotiating what makes a woman, especially a mother, wife, and/or daughter “good.” Dr. Phil showcases the manipulative, hysterical, and rebellious feminine behaviors of the Modern American Woman, then offers pointed folksy aphorisms and controversial treatment plans to correct this behavior. The format is both comforting and deeply toxic.
In 2022, I noticed that McGraw was increasingly veering into conservative culture war territory. He largely abandoned his bread and butter of dissecting the American family, turning his powerful gaze onto transgender children, so-called “critical race theory” in schools, and abortion, among other topics. Right-wing movement personalities like The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, Live Action’s Lila Rose, and the Moms for Liberty were featured, offering their extreme and divisive opinions on current events and political topics.
He interviewed Trump multiple times during the campaign, and in October 2024, McGraw spoke at a rally, praising his leadership and describing him as “tough as an old army boot.” McGraw denied that this was an endorsement, instead describing his as an “act of rebellion” against the Harris campaign, which he claimed refused requests for an interview.
So I wasn’t surprised when I saw that McGraw was embedded with ICE agents and Trump “border czar” and former Fox News contributor Tom Homan before last Friday’s Los Angeles raids targeting migrant workers. According to CNN, he had “exclusive” access to Homan “before and after the raids.” The sweeps triggered protests across the city, to which the Trump administration responded by deploying the National Guard and a Marine infantry unit in a made-for-TV showdown between the feds and an attention-hungry blue state governor.
The interview with Homan aired on McGraw’s streaming platform. During the conversation, McGraw claims that Ambiance Apparel, one of the businesses targeted by ICE on Friday, is a “cartel” business, though he could not say what cartel from which part of the world. Homan referred to protesters as “Soros funded,” a thinly veiled gesture to the antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews foment civil unrest to undermine domestic tranquility. It’s 2025, and Dr. Phil has gone full MAGA.
McGraw told the press he did not accompany agents on these raids in Los Angeles, though from reviewing the episode of Dr. Phil Primetime that aired Monday it appears they had a camera crew amongst protesters at Ambience Apparel. But he did in January when he filmed a ride along with agents in Chicago. A clip of McGraw questioning a man being detained during his ride along with ICE went viral.
“Have you ever been deported before?” He asked.
“You’re Dr. Phil!” the man responded.
“Yeah, how do you know me?”
“I’ve seen you on Dr. Phil.”
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Does anything better sum up the cruel and deeply stupid world we’re living in right now than this exchange?
The legacy of 00s television
Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz show that Trump is not the only figure cunning enough to update their pop culture stardom to remain relevant (and profitable) in this cruel new media environment.
McGraw’s affinity for the people who seek to ethnically cleanse the city of Los Angeles and the entire country is an outward projection of his previous approach to pathologizing the American family. Episodes of Dr. Phil regularly ended with unruly daughters with behavioral issues being essentially kidnapped by specialized transportation agencies designed to take young people to treatment centers they didn’t want to go to. Paris Hilton kicked off a national conversation in the last few years about the “troubled teen industry” by sharing her experiences, and other survivors, including McGraw’s TV guests, have since come forward with their own stories of trauma and neglect.
I’m not comparing the harm and scale of these two phenomena. But it’s not surprising to me that he sees this as sane public policy. He’s lending the principles he used as a TV psychologist to the MAGA diagnosis of America’s problems, labeling immigrants as a disease of the body politic, exorcising them from the country, and capitalizing on it for his own gain. You won’t be shocked to hear that on YouTube, the interview is heavily monetized, both through the platform itself and the ad reads he does between segments.
For her part, Oprah is a Democrat. She introduced former Vice President Harris at her final rally the night before the election. And in 2022, she endorsed Democrat2 John Fetterman over Dr. Oz in his senate race. But one of the things that I’ve heard frequently in my book research is that young people were turned off by the Harris campaign’s emphasis on celebrity endorsements, and Oprah’s involvement is singled out. It seems the celebrity endorsements only hurt Democrats, when it is seen as an extension of defending institutional norms and protecting elite interests.
Annyywayyyyy, here’s what I’m into
Solidarity to the people of Los Angeles and everyone affected. I wake up every day wondering why I am afforded such comfort and safety simply by the circumstance of my birth and my neighbors are not. After Trump was elected, I made a concerted effort to be more in touch with local community organizing, and I encourage you to know your rights when it comes to ICE enforcement in your neighborhood. I went to a training recently and it made me feel a lot more empowered.
Donate to the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles. They’re doing important work on the ground to support the city amidst the federal government’s siege.
I’m extremely particular about my T-shirts. This one from Old Navy I bought this weekend is hall of fame.
I’ll be out of town this weekend to go to a Turning Point USA conference, so I’ll miss Trump’s military parade. Expect to hear more about the Young Women’s Leadership Summit next week. Thank you for reading and stay safe. I love you.
Neither did I.
More on the Senate’s Largest Man here, who recently took his colleagues to task over the protests in yet another flirtation with the idea that he is, indeed, a Republican.