As scenes of shattered glass, burning vehicles, and bloodied officers flooded the screens of Americans over the weekend, a chorus of Democratic leaders and media personalities raced to describe the unrest in Los Angeles as “peaceful protests.” The contradiction would be laughable if the stakes weren’t so serious.
Footage reviewed by Fox News Digital tells a very different story. Beginning Friday, a wave of anti-ICE protests exploded into outright riots, with over 1,000 demonstrators surrounding a federal building, slashing tires, throwing rocks at officers, and vandalizing taxpayer-funded property. According to the Department of Homeland Security, several ICE agents were injured, and the situation continued to deteriorate into violence through the weekend.
Yet that hasn’t stopped elected Democrats and major media outlets from describing the situation in increasingly surreal terms.
Senator Alex Padilla called the demonstrators “peaceful” and “passionate.” Senator Cory Booker took it further, blaming the violence not on the rioters, but on President Trump, who he claims is “sowing chaos.” Rep. Nanette Barragán even insisted the administration was targeting peaceful protesters. Former Vice President Kamala Harris called the demonstrations “overwhelmingly peaceful,” while Hillary Clinton added her own spin: “Trump’s goal is chaos.”
Congresswoman Maxine Waters on Los Angeles: “There was no violence, I was on the street, I know… Get it straight and don’t just rely on what you are being told or the few incidents you saw.”
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 10, 2025
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t a block party. This was federal officers being assaulted, buildings defaced, tires slashed, and firebombs hurled at vehicles. Law enforcement was pelted with projectiles. Dozens of arrests were made. These are not the actions of “peaceful demonstrators.”
And the coverage? Stunning. One ABC7 anchor in LA actually said that officers might escalate the situation by breaking up what he described as “a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn.” That’s right—watching cars burn is now a casual evening activity in the eyes of some in the press.
Mayor Karen Bass, meanwhile, tried to downplay the chaos as confined to “five or ten streets.” As if geographic concentration somehow makes the violence more acceptable. One might ask: if those five streets included your neighborhood, would that sound like a minor issue?
This coordinated rhetorical shielding of lawlessness is politically calculated, no doubt. It’s aimed at softening public perception, distracting from the glaring reality that President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard and now the Marines was not only justified—but necessary.
The American public sees what’s happening. They don’t need CNN filters or Clinton op-eds to explain away the footage. They see federal buildings under siege. They see masked agitators hurling rocks. And they understand exactly why Trump moved decisively to restore order.
When Democrats and media figures insist on describing riots as peaceful, they don’t just lose credibility—they send a dangerous message: that destruction is tolerable if the cause is politically convenient.
The irony, of course, is that the same voices who are screaming “authoritarianism” at Trump for deploying the Guard were the ones cheerleading every indictment, raid, and subpoena when the target was a political rival. The selective outrage is transparent. And voters are noticing.
