Trump falls back on tired lies for who's to blame for LA protests

A protester gestures as tear gas is used near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, on June 8, following immigration raid protests.

“The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators,” President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday, referring to the protesters clashing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles.

“They're insurrectionist[s]. They're bad people. They should be in jail,” Trump added.

The hypocrisy of labeling protesters “insurrectionists” after pardoning more than 1,500 convicted ones earlier this year is breathtaking. Even more staggering is the continued insistence of right-wing hot air balloons like Trump that any large protests against his unpopular policies are somehow deep state-funded, fabricated operations. 

As Tesla stock and CEO Elon Musk’s popularity plummeted, the world’s richest man pulled out his teeny-tiniest violin, claiming that protests at Tesla dealerships—a result of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s dismantling of essential government functions—were “very organized” and “paid for.”

During his first term, Trump blamed protests against Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination on “paid professionals” funded by billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, which is also an antisemitic trope. Recently, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden tried to dismiss constituents’ frustrations at town hall meetings as “George Soros-funded agitator groups.” 

If Trump has any talent at all, it’s for evading accountability.