MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is trying to paint President Donald Trump as desperate and out of control, accusing him of “panicking” as lawlessness spread across Los Angeles.
According to Maddow, the chaos on city streets—including rioting, looting, property destruction, and violent attacks on federal officers—amounted to a “joyful and sustainable opposition” to the Trump administration.
The comments came after Trump deployed 700 U.S. Marines to support National Guard troops already responding to riots in the wake of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
ICE has been areested dangerous illegal alien criminals, inlcuding murderers, rapist, child traffickers, and other violent offenders.
The unrest, triggered by federal immigration raids at a Home Depot location, quickly escalated into widespread vandalism and violence by leftist mobs.
But MSNBC hosts Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell seemed more concerned with downplaying the severity of the situation than acknowledging the real threat to public safety and law enforcement.
“One of the important things that Mayor Bass brought out when you were talking to her about what’s happening in Los Angeles tonight, and you know this, but just how isolated and tiny a spot of Los Angeles we’re talking about, Downtown Los Angeles, where in the areas where these office buildings are, very few people live anywhere near that,” O’Donnell claimed.
“It’s not a residential area.”
He went on to say: “Most people living in Los Angeles, most Los Angeles local taxpayers never set foot in that part of Los Angeles.
“You can easily live a life there and never see it.
“And so it is this — this really isolated little spot that doesn’t in any way disrupt any protest that’s being held down there outside a federal building, doesn’t in any way disrupt anything about the way life is lived in Los Angeles.”
That narrative appeared to ignore the violence breaking out in real time.
Video posted to social media showed an individual in a motorcycle helmet hurling rocks at vehicles carrying ICE agents.
WATCH:
Felon that should be charged with attempted murder, hurls rocks at Border Patrol and unmarked Federal vehicles leaving Paramount California. pic.twitter.com/sXO5MvrU8p
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) June 7, 2025
One of those rocks shattered a windshield, injuring a federal officer.
The FBI has since identified the suspect as Elpido Reyna, who is considered armed and dangerous, and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Despite this, Maddow continued to frame Trump’s response as politically motivated rather than operationally necessary.
“I mean, even with — I mean, even if these protests were 100 times the size that they are, there still wouldn’t be an operational reason to bring in active-duty troops or federalized National Guard,” she deceitfully claimed.
“I mean, it’s just — it’s not that sort of thing,” she added, laughing.
“This is obviously not operationally necessitated, right, in terms of the security of the city.”
“He’s doing this because he’s panicking and thinks that he looks weak, and therefore he has to do something that seems strong,” Maddow continued.
“And so we will have tanks destroying the streets of Washington this Saturday, and we will have National Guardsmen and active-duty U.S. Marines standing around Los Angeles wondering what their — what this has to do with their military careers.”
She concluded: “And it’s all because he has no freaking idea how to deal with this politically, and he’s absolutely panicking about the, I think, trenchant and joyful and sustainable opposition against him.”
WATCH:
Meanwhile, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin posted video from inside one of the federal vehicles that came under attack.
The footage offers a stark contrast to MSNBC’s dismissive tone.
WATCH:
BREAKING: @FoxNews has obtained intense video showing @CBP agents’ perspective inside their vehicle as it is pelted with rocks while they attempt to leave the anti-ICE protest in Paramount, CA today. You can hear & see the windows & windshield breaking w/ each hit. Federal source… pic.twitter.com/2oo2N4GzU1
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 7, 2025
He also shared images of a wounded federal agent and extensive vehicle damage caused by rioters.
While Maddow and her colleagues continue to reduce violent unrest to mere “opposition,” footage from the ground paints a far more dangerous and sobering picture—one that many Americans believe justifies the president’s firm response to restore law and order.
