Propaganda War on Immigrants 

From most-favored-bigot treatment for “Dr. Phil” to social media memes, the right-wing war on immigration and immigrants amped up as Trump sent military to Los Angeles. Right-wing “influencers” have been embedded with ICE from the first day. Along with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, they posture for the cameras in camo outfits or bullet-proof vests. 

One of Trump’s social media posts epitomized the heated rhetoric and complete disconnect from facts: he posted congratulations to the National Guard for their success in quieting protests in Los Angeles—two hours before they arrived in the city. 

Along with the right-wing propaganda, outright fake images and videos abound. Some of the same images resurface year after year. Phony images and lies often originate with right-wing social media here and then are picked up and amplified by social media connected to the Russian government.  

[New York Times] “The latest deployments prompted a new wave of misleading images to spread — some purporting to show Marines and the military service’s weapons in action. One was a still from “Blue Thunder,” a 1983 action-thriller about a conspiracy to deprive residents of Los Angeles of their civil rights. …

“James Woods, the actor who has become known for spreading conspiracy theories, … reposted a fabricated quote, attributed to former President Barack Obama, discussing a secret plot to impose socialism on the country, as well as a video of burning police cars that was from 2020.”

Besides generating their own fake news, right-wing social media and bots attack factual reporting. Case in point: the San Francisco Chronicle’s accurate photos showing National Guard soldiers packed closely together, sleeping on concrete floors in the Los Angeles federal building after being sent there by Trump. Right wing attackers said the photos were fake—and continued to spread that lie even after the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that the photos are accurate. 

AI chatbots also spread lies and misinformation. Grok and OpenAI’s chatbot repeatedly classified viral misinformation spread on social media as fact and denied the authenticity of actual photos from Los Angeles. 

[Wired] “As residents of the LA area took to the streets in recent days to protest increasingly frequent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, conservative posters on social media platforms like X and Facebook flooded their feeds with inaccurate information. In addition to well-worn tactics like repurposing old protest footageor clips from video games and movies, posters have claimed that the protesters are little more than paid agitators being directed by shadowy forces—something for which there is no evidence.” 

Mainstream media contributed to distortions about Los Angeles protests. In fact, protests were limited to a small area of downtown Los Angeles. Property destruction was similar in scope or even less than that in riots following football victories in many cities. Mainstream media, as well as social media, repeated images of burning Tesla taxis on a seemingly endless loop, lending credence to Trump’s lies about Los Angeles burning.

[Presswatchers] “The mainstream media has become a key partner in Donald Trump’s quest to cast the small-scale rioting in Los Angeles as an existential threat to the country.

“This is happening in two ways.

“1. The media is focusing on the visually dramatic rioting and property damage rather than the overwhelmingly peaceful expressions of support for friends and neighbors and a widespread backlash against over-militarized and cruel immigration raids.

“2. The media is casting Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard and the Marines as an attempt to “quell” the rioting, when in fact it is incitement, pure and simple, intended to stoke the violence rather than abet it.” 

While Trump continues to credit the National Guard and Marines for “saving” Los Angeles, the fact is that most of them never even went out on the streets. The few who did had nothing to do with policing protests. The credit—and blame—for policing protests goes entirely to local law enforcement. National Guard and Marines were limited to “protecting” heavily armed, masked immigration agents as those agents made arrests.  

You would think that mainstream reporting would be more critical, given the seemingly targeted attacks on media by law enforcement during the protests. Several reporters, in different locations, were struck by “less-than-lethal” munitions. An Australian reporter was hit by a rubber bullet as she broadcast from the scene, and the video showed an officer aiming at her. A British photojournalist needed emergency surgery after a rubber bullet tore a hole in his leg. 

The Los Angeles Press Club and a reporting site filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, charging that “”LAPD unlawfully used force and the threat of force against Plaintiffs, their members and other journalists to intimidate them and interfere with their constitutional right to document public events as the press.”

Meanwhile, the propaganda blitz continues, with Trump administration officials continuing to claim that they are arresting violent, dangerous criminals—and arrests instead focusing on easy targets, such as the father of three U.S. Marines, beaten as he was arrested at his worksite; the father of an active-duty Air Force member, returning from a visit to that son in Japan; “Hispanic-looking” people found in a Tennessee Highway Patrol dragnet; and workers caught in a raid on a Hollywood Home Depot parking lot. 

Lies, damn lies, and propaganda—all in the service of hate. 

We must do better than this. 

We must be better than this.