By Ben Johnson

Although protesters injured 10 deputies with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s office on the first day of riots alone, the Left has attempted to portray the anti-ICE riots as peaceful protests that “America’s Hitler” Donald Trump is using as a pretext to call in the National Guard. Here are some of the most outrageous statements on the topic.

1. Trump is “America’s Hitler.” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) doubled down on the 2024 campaign’s losing message, telling Saturday’s “No Kings” rally, “Donald Trump is America’s Hitler.” The far-left Democrat and former Fang Fang associate threatened to use nuclear weapons against American citizens in a 2018 social media post.

2. President Trump is committing “domestic terrorism.” In the left-wing worldview, law enforcement is terrorism, and left-wing violence is peaceful speech. “I would argue that this is not immigration policy that we’re seeing unfold. This is domestic terrorism,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) told CNN.

“Are you saying the ICE raids are domestic terrorism?” asked the apparently shocked CNN anchor.

“Yes, I would argue that you are terrorizing communities,” replied Kamlager-Dove. By the same logic, Eliot Ness terrorized Italian-American communities (most of whom were, at least, U.S. citizens).

3. Trump wants to “flex his authoritarian muscles.” President Trump has no real interest in quelling lawlessness, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) told CNN’s Kassie Hunt over the first weekend of the protests. “He wants to provoke a violent reaction, because then he wants to use that as an excuse to send in these troops and flex his authoritarian muscles,” she said.

4. ICE agents “are provoking” preexisting riots. Some Democrats accused ICE agents of lying about being attacked. “Video after video has shown that these agents are the ones provoking these protesters and also making up aggression by these protesters that later video shows, people were not aggressive,” claimed Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). In 2019, Castro posted the names of people in his district who donated to President Donald Trump, telling MSNBC, “What I would like for them to do is think twice about supporting” the president.

5. Kamala Harris: Trump wants to “provoke chaos.” Former Vice President and potential 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris weighed in on the protests on Sunday, June 8, saying, “Deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos. In addition to the recent ICE raids in Southern California and across our nation, it is part of the Trump Administration’s cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division. This Administration’s actions are not about public safety — they’re about stoking fear. … And as the LAPD, Mayor, and Governor have noted, demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful.” But as Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna cited his deputies’ injuries, he described the “big difference between the peaceful protesters and the individuals who are coming out with weapons to attack our folks.”

No word on whether Harris will raise bail for those incarcerated.

6. “There was no violence”? In a classic example of gaslighting, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) encouraged liberals not to believe evidence they saw with their own eyes. “Get it in your head! … Don’t think that somehow, because they called out the National Guard, there was violence. There was no violence,” Waters insisted on Tuesday, June 10. “Get it straight, and don’t just rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents that you saw.” When asked about Waters’s comments, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) displayed his Southern roots. “Bless her heart,” he replied.

7. The overwhelmed police force has everything under control. “Local authorities have this under control,” insisted Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) on June 10, accusing President Trump of “inflaming those tensions.” But LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told local media, “We are overwhelmed” just one day earlier. “We had individuals out there shooting commercial grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill ya.”

8. Mostly peaceful burning cars. A California Democrat attempted to portray President Trump as a dictator using the military to thwart the First Amendment. Unfortunately, as she made the allegation, video footage discredited her in real time. “We are having an administration that is targeting peaceful protests,” Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on June 8 as the split-screen showed rioters on motorcycles waving the Mexican flag as they circled a burning car. “The president is sending the National Guard, because he doesn’t like the scenes. He doesn’t like the scenes of people peacefully protesting,” she continued as CNN promptly stopped showing footage of the vehicular inferno from the other side of the screen.

9. Rioters are just “having fun watching cars burn.” On Sunday, June 8, ABC-7 Los Angeles anchor Jory Rand warned, if President Trump moved law enforcement to stop the violence, he could “turn what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into a massive confrontation.” Protesters set at least six Waymo electric taxis on fire during the riots. “Burning lithium-ion batteries release toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride, posing risks to responders and those nearby,” warned the L.A. Police Department.

10. Irrational exuberance? Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned, “You always have to be careful, whether you see a burned car or a broken window, whatever it is. It may be the exuberance of the moment.” Pelosi actually made the broader point that “when there is a large gathering of people, the anarchists see it as an opportunity, and they move in.”

Between June 7 through June 11, CNN and MSNBC described the 2025 Los Angeles riots as “peaceful” 211 times: 123 on CNN and 88 on MSNBC, according to a study from the Media Research Center.

There have been attempts to set the record straight. “Peaceful protests? Call them what they are: violent, anti-American riots,” demanded U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), showing footage of the violence.

“What’s happening in Los Angeles aren’t ‘peaceful rallies’ — they’re third-world insurrection riots on American soil,” said the White House.

“The American people are not as stupid as these Democrats are trying to make us out to be,” said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.