Performative Hate

Let’s get something straight from the top: there is no national emergency in Los Angeles. The crisis is invented. Manufactured. Just like the “trade crisis.” And it’s being used—once again—by Donald Trump to divide, to incite, and to expand his power.

What is happening in Los Angeles is not a spontaneous breakdown of law and order. It’s not a war zone. It’s not a “city of criminals,” as Trump’s Homeland Security head Kristi Noem outrageously claimed on Fox News. It’s a show. A performance. A dangerous, dishonest farce designed to justify authoritarianism.

What is happening in Los Angeles right now, and what’s been happening for the past few days, has made it crystal clear again that Trump is itching to sic the U.S. military on the American people. That’s his game plan. And that will be his game plan when he tries to cancel the 2026 midterms. Mark my words.

The Manufactured Crisis

The unrest in LA began, not with riots or chaos, but with Stephen Miller. Trump’s chief immigration architect and infamous wannabe Goebbels was furious that deportation numbers under Joe Biden in 2024 eclipsed those under Trump’s nascent administration. His solution? Instruct ICE agents to go to Home Depot, the 7-Eleven parking lot, local municipal buildings and start grabbing people—day laborers, parents picking up their kids, immigrants legally attending court appointments.

Let that sink in: a federal crackdown by unmarked, masked agents targeting undocumented people, regardless of criminal record. A mom? A middle-schooler? A hard-working guy just trying to make a living? Doesn’t matter.

That’s how the protests began. That’s what sparked the public anger. Not violence. Not looting. Injustice.

But Trump, ever the showman, saw it as his big opportunity. He takes isolated protests—peaceful ones, for the most part—and broadcasts them through a megaphone of fear. A block and a half of demonstrators in a metro area of over 22 million becomes “Los Angeles is burning down.” For God’s sake, MAGA! The man lies to your face and expects you to eat it up.

The Autocrat’s Playbook

This is what autocrats do. They invent crises to justify a power grab. They claim chaos where there is order. They manufacture fear where there is peace. They weaponize lies and dress them in the uniform of patriotism.

Trump wants you to believe we are under siege. That’s Step One. Then comes Step Two: send in the military. Invoke the Insurrection Act. Declare martial law. And ultimately? Cancel elections.

Sound extreme? It’s not hypothetical. In his first term, Trump ordered his Defense Secretary to authorize soldiers to open fire on American civilians protesting in Washington, D.C. Mark Esper refused. That’s the only reason it didn’t happen.

Ask yourself this: do you think his current Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, the sycophant-in-chief, will say no?

Hahaha, if you do, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

A City of Criminals?

Let’s go back to Kristi Noem. On national TV, where you’ll usually find her when she’s not cosplaying Federal Agent Barbie, she declared that Los Angeles is a “city of criminals.” Not a city with crime. Not a city struggling. A city of criminals.

That's pure propaganda. It’s a calculated slur against one of the most diverse, vibrant cities in America. It’s designed to inflame, not inform. To set the country on fire.

No responsible leader would say something like that. Only someone who wants America to burn would talk that way.

What Kind of Country Do We Want to Be?

This is the question we all have to face: Is this who we are?

Do we want to be a country that sends ICE agents to stalk day laborers at hardware stores?

Do we want to live in a nation where the military can be ordered to fire on peaceful protesters?

Do we want our leaders to lie about crises so they can seize more power?

Trump forces us to answer these questions every day. And the danger isn’t just Trump himself—it’s the growing number of people who will do whatever he tells them to do. No matter how cruel, unconstitutional, or un-American.

The good news? A new poll from YouGov shows that most Americans don’t want Trump’s America.

A Nation on the Brink

Trump doesn’t want peace. He wants war—us vs. them. Red state vs. blue state. He wants chaos so he can step in and play the “strongman.” And he has a team—Noem, Miller, Hegseth, the knucklehead Tom Homan—ready and willing to help him do it.

If you believe in America, if you believe in the rule of law, if you believe in the basic dignity of your fellow humans, now is the time to speak. This performative hate isn’t harmless. It’s strategic. It’s escalating. And it’s going to get worse.

If we don’t stop it.

The Choice Is Ours

Trump and his people want us to be afraid. They want us to hate our neighbors in Los Angeles. They want us to cheer as immigrants are dragged away. They want us to think that burning it all down is the only way forward.

But we are better than this.

Some historical context is due. Before Hitler’s Nazi Germany took to slaughtering Jews, it rounded them up and expelled them. The atrocities of the Holocaust soon followed. The Soviet Union’s forced mass transfers of populations, under Stalin’s ethnic cleansing campaign, resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Even in the U.S., “Operation Wetback” in the 1950s, while not lethal, disrupted families and communities and had a negative impact on the economy. Not our finest hour. But we’ve grown since then, haven’t we?

Most Americans don’t want a government that stakes out Home Depot. Most Americans don’t want our military firing on protesters. Most Americans don’t want a president who governs by fear and division.

Trump does. Some of his voters do.

But we don’t have to.

This is not just about Trump. It’s about who we are. It’s about the social contract we have with each other. And whether we’re going to let one man tear it up to claim the power of a king.

If you believe in that contract—if you believe in America—stand up. Speak out. Join us at a #NoKings protest this Saturday. Before the show becomes a war.

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