Cross posted to the MRC's NewsBusters blog
On Sunday's Connect show, MS NOW host Jacob Soboroff gave a commentary cheering on left-wing activists who have, among things, harassed ICE agents whom he demonized as "depraved." He even went so far it to celebrate efforts to sleep-drive federal agents by making noise outside of hotels where they were staying -- which is arguably illegal.
The liberal MS NOW host began a seven-minute commentary by recalling protests against Trump administration actions like budget cuts:
January 20, 2025 marked the start of President Trump's second term in office. It also marked the beginning of a fight that would bring millions of you -- of Americans together -- a fight over their jobs and their communities and their neighbors, and the very idea of what it means to be an American. It started with DOGE when the President brought billionaire Elon Musk into the administration to lead an effort to -- to slash government spending. Thousands of federal workers suddenly found themselves out of a job. Programs that millions of Americans rely on were put on the chopping block.
A bit later, he turned his attention to anti-ICE agitators.
Across the country, people began to organize rapid response networks. They watched their neighborhoods. They sounded the alarm when ICE arrived. They accompanied people to appointments. They made sure families knew their rights, and they refused to let their neighbors face fear and uncertainty alone. And then came Minnesota. As ICE agents flooded the streets, two Americans -- Renee Good and Alex Pretti -- were killed, shot in broad daylight by agents. The community response was immediate.
He added:
I watched as people took to the streets, demanded that agents leave their neighbors alone -- as they gathered outside hotels where ICE agents were staying. They were banging on pots, and they were blowing brass instruments to keep the agents from sleep. The depraved actions of those armed and masked federal agents -- Greg Bovino's troops, the so-called commander at large in his military-style costume. He was no match for the people in the streets who drove him out, not stopping Trump and ICE, but making clear that they could not terrorize their community without coming face to face with that same community they were tearing apart.
He went on to invoke the No Kings demonstrations to "reject the administration's increasingly authoritarian tactics." He added:
Their message was simple: We are stronger together. And that is really what the people have proven over the last two years. When the going got rough, they did not wait for someone else to act or for permission. They showed up and they kept showing up.
Transcript follows:
MS NOW's Connect with Jacob Soboroff
11:38 a.m. Eastern
JACOB SOBOROFF: January 20, 2025 marked the start of President Trump's second term in office. It also marked the beginning of a fight that would bring millions of you -- of Americans together -- a fight over their jobs and their communities and their neighbors, and the very idea of what it means to be an American. It started with DOGE when the President brought billionaire Elon Musk into the administration to lead an effort to -- to slash government spending. Thousands of federal workers suddenly found themselves out of a job. Programs that millions of Americans rely on were put on the chopping block.
We're talking about all kinds of stuff -- public health research, environmental protections, services for veterans -- the people who keep those programs running. In response, federal workers took to the streets protesting the cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Workers who had been fired came together to challenge the administration's decision. I got to meet some of them back in 2025 when the agency faced almost total elimination on a street corner outside of one of the agency's major research labs in Morgantown, West Virginia. I talked to federal employees and their supporters who had been or were in the crosshairs of losing their jobs.
I remember signs they held up -- "NIOSH Workers for Miners." It was amazing. Firefighters and American drivers-by honked to make literal noise about the cuts -- cuts that were later restored because of their fights. Not too long after that came devastating cuts to SNAP and EBT as a result of policy changes from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, over five million Americans lost or were dropped from their SNAP benefits -- food stamps. That's a lifeline for millions of families struggling to put food on the table, suddenly gone.
But as benefits were threatened, communities across the country stepped up. Neighbors organized food drives -- restaurants, small businesses donated meals. Volunteers showed up at food banks and churches and community centers to try to prevent people from going hungry in their neighborhood.
And then there's ICE. Within the first month of the administration, the Department of Homeland Security Launched an aggressive campaign of immigration enforcement. Tens of thousands of people were detained, families were torn apart. students and workers were taken from their communities -- and those, the people trying to do it right, as the administration loves to say, they were detained while attending their immigration court hearings. I saw it myself at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. People were brutally accosted and detained while trying to play by the rules, but instead they were punished for it. In the same hallways, I met and saw activists and lawyers determined to protect them, and journalists and photographers there to document the injustice, to stand up to an obvious and blatant abuse of power.
And as the arrests spread from those hallways to the streets across the country, so did the resistance. In Los Angeles, thousands of people flooded the streets to protest ICE's presence. They refused to leave. The President sent in the National Guard, but protests continued and the resistance spread. In Chicago, residents organized to monitor immigration enforcement and protect their neighbors in North Carolina. I saw it firsthand at Dilworth United Methodist Church -- a group called Siembra, North Carolina brought community members together to learn how to observe and document immigration enforcement activities. Ordinary people -- students, elders, neighbors -- people who understood that protecting their community meant showing up for one another. And they did.
It did not stop there. Across the country, people began to organize rapid response networks. They watched their neighborhoods. They sounded the alarm when ICE arrived. They accompanied people to appointments. They made sure families knew their rights, and they refused to let their neighbors face fear and uncertainty alone. And then came Minnesota. As ICE agents flooded the streets, two Americans -- Renee Good and Alex Pretti -- were killed, shot in broad daylight by agents. The community response was immediate.
I watched as people took to the streets, demanded that agents leave their neighbors alone -- as they gathered outside hotels where ICE agents were staying. They were banging on pots, and they were blowing brass instruments to keep the agents from sleep. The depraved actions of those armed and masked federal agents -- Greg Bovino's troops, the so-called commander at large in his military-style costume. He was no match for the people in the streets who drove him out, not stopping Trump and ICE, but making clear that they could not terrorize their community without coming face to face with that same community they were tearing apart.
And they kept going, even as the administration attempted to silence them. As fear grew and violence continued, they kept showing up. They were not alone. Across the country, Americans continued to gather in protest at the No Kings demonstration. Millions of people took to the streets to reject -- reject the administration's increasingly authoritarian tactics. They were there to remind us that in democracy, power belongs to you, to the people, and that the right to protest is not a privilege granted by the President of the United States.
(recalls some demonstrators that he interviewed who held a protest walk in California)
Their message was simple: We are stronger together. And that is really what the people have proven over the last two years. When the going got rough, they did not wait for someone else to act or for permission. They showed up and they kept showing up. And this year, more than 52 million Americans have already cast their ballots in the midterm elections. And, look, not every American agrees on the issues facing us today, but they have shown that they're going to show up. They're going to show up to fight for what they believe in. And that is what inspires me most about this country. It is why I show up every day to do this job. The millions of ordinary Americans who have refused the last two years to turn their backs on one another, to care for one another, and on Tuesday, they are going to have the chance to do it again.
