By Mary Rooke, Daily Caller News Foundation | June 11, 2025
The L.A. riots against President Donald Trump and ICE illegal immigration raids have captured the nation as Republicans and Democrats fight to control the narrative. Still, the comments about the violent riots from an 86-year-old Democrat are causing a headache for her party.
Despite overwhelming evidence from on-the-ground reporting, including from the Daily Caller News Foundation, that violent activists have turned California into a war zone of burning cars, looting, and chaos, Democrat California Rep. Maxine Waters told the press there hasn’t been any violence.
“Nobody was shot, nobody was killed, get it into your head. Don’t think that somehow, because they called out the National Guard, there was violence. There was no violence. I was on the street, I know,” Waters said. “And I went from downtown detention back out into the community. What happened in Paramount, what happened in Compton, what happened in Inglewood: Get it straight, and don’t just rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents you saw.”
Apparently, Waters, who is speaking as the elected Democrat for California’s 43rd district since 1991, believes that firebombing cop cars, attacking ICE vehicles and their agents, looting local businesses, and blocking highways is not violent because no one has died. She is not alone. Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and others have similarly come out to claim these riots are “overwhelmingly peaceful.”
This is a terrible position for Democrats to take, considering American voter sentiment on illegal immigration has completely shifted over the last 10 years. It appears that only one Democrat is willing to defy the party’s position. Democrat Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman posted on X his disapproval of the L.A. riots, contradicting his fellow Democrats. (All The Usual Suspects Are Behind The Left’s Latest ‘Protests’)
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman doubled down in a later post telling people that it’s not okay to “loot,” “set sh*t on fire,” and “assault law enforcement,” adding that it is perfectly acceptable to “protest peacefully,” “organize to win elections,” and to “call out destructive behavior [like the violence going on in Los Angeles.].”
Fetterman has likely seen the internal polling on this, which looks terrible for riot supporters. Waters’ comments are going to hurt Democrats in the midterms if the GOP can capture control of the narrative surrounding what happened in Los Angeles. Voters don’t want illegal immigrants in our country, and they don’t want violence erupting on their city streets.
Republicans would be smart to create ads with Democrats’ comments, like Waters, alongside video coverage of the riots. It will remind voters why they flocked in droves to the ballot box in November to not only install Trump into the White House but also give Republicans control of both Chambers of Congress. Waters created fuel for the GOP machine to run on in the midterms.
Mary Rooke is a commentary and analysis writer at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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