Like a street magician waving one hand while the other palms your wallet, America’s corporate media has mastered the art of distraction. While cities burned and federal officers were attacked, CNN and MSNBC asked their shrinking audiences to believe they were watching “mostly peaceful protests.” It’s almost impressive—if the stakes weren’t so high and the lies weren’t so blatant.
Across the country, anti-ICE riots have erupted with fury. From Los Angeles to New York, mobs torched police vehicles, attacked officers, vandalized federal buildings, and turned downtown streets into chaotic battlegrounds. The National Guard was activated in multiple states. Fireworks were hurled at police. Storefronts were smashed. Arrests numbered in the hundreds.
And what did the media say? “Mostly peaceful.”
According to a Media Research Center study analyzing coverage from June 7 to June 11, CNN and MSNBC used that phrase—or some equally dishonest version of it—a staggering 211 times. That’s not a mistake. That’s an editorial strategy. CNN led the way with 123 “peaceful” claims, and MSNBC followed closely behind at 88. No attempt was made to connect the dots between the “peaceful” crowd and the violent mobs clearly visible in the same frame.
You could be watching a guy light a cop car on fire, and someone on cable news would still tell you it was a barbecue fundraiser for social justice.
Jake Tapper, to his credit, broke from the herd and called the events what they were: riots. That’s it. That’s the bar now. Say what’s actually happening, and you’re a radical. Journalism, folks.
Meanwhile, in the real world—far from the air-conditioned studios of Manhattan—cities were under siege. In L.A., businesses were looted and burned. In Atlanta, officers were assaulted with explosives. In New York City, more than 80 “peaceful protesters” were arrested after violent clashes. In Chicago, someone thought driving a car through a crowd at 50 mph was a form of protest. That’s not a movement. That’s anarchy.
And through it all, the media spun like it was 2020 again. You remember that year—when anchors stood in front of flaming buildings and insisted the protests were “fiery but mostly peaceful.” Apparently, lessons were not learned.
Let’s not pretend this is about news. This is about narrative control. The media’s job isn’t to report anymore—it’s to protect the progressive cause and attack anyone who gets in the way. So when President Trump enforced immigration law—something every president is supposed to do—they didn’t just oppose him; they buried the facts.
It’s not a coincidence. These riots didn’t spring out of nowhere. They were coordinated, triggered by Trump’s federal push to remove those who entered the country illegally. And rather than hold the violent agitators accountable, the media coddled them. Because in their eyes, anything anti-Trump is automatically noble, even if it involves torching American cities and waving foreign flags while doing it.
Can you imagine the media response if Trump supporters had burned police cars and assaulted federal officers? They’d still be running 24-hour specials. But because the violence came from the left, the goal was misdirection, denial, and spin.
Here’s the bottom line: Trump stood firm. He deployed the National Guard to protect citizens. He upheld the law. And while the media cried “authoritarianism,” average Americans saw what real leadership looks like—decisive, unapologetic, and rooted in common sense.
And we’re not fooled. We see the footage. We know the smell of burning hypocrisy when it reaches our doorstep. That’s why CNN and MSNBC are hemorrhaging viewers. When you lie to people who can see the truth with their own eyes, you don’t just lose their trust—you lose your relevance.
The mask is off. The illusion is shattered. The magician’s trick only works when the crowd’s not paying attention. But this audience? We’re watching. Closely.
