My IN Senator Banks posted this and what follows is my response
Picture he posted:
Senator Banks:
“What we have seen in Los Angeles these past few days has looked like a third-world country.
Unlawful rioters assaulted ICE officers and other law enforcement, while vandalizing public property and burning the American flag.
As President Trump deployed the National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles, disgraced California Governor Gavin Newsom pushed back along with every Democratic Governor in this country, effectively siding with the unlawful rioters terrorizing the streets of Los Angeles.
Not to be outdone, failed Border Czar Kamala Harris weighed in as well, unsurprisingly siding with the unlawful rioters who attacked law enforcement.
Enough is enough.
Last November, President Trump and Vice President Vance won a decisive mandate on an America First message of deporting criminal illegal aliens and stopping Joe Biden’s unlawful invasion at the southern border that the latter recklessly allowed for the last four years.
In those four years, thousands of criminal illegal aliens invaded the United States, taking the lives of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungary, and many other innocents.
It’s no wonder that the American people continue to stand with President Trump when it comes to securing America’s borders, especially here in Indiana.
Over the weekend, polling from CBS News found majority support for President Trump’s mass deportations.
Trump is winning, while Democrats continue to lose trust with the American people when it comes to securing America’s borders.
✅51% of Americans support ICE
✅54% support Mass Deportations
Next week will mark 10 years since then candidate Donald Trump first descended that Golden Escalator in Trump Tower, taking the country and the Republican Party by storm when he proposed his “Big, Beautiful Wall.”
At the time, the elite class found it distasteful, but the reality was it resonated with the American people. In hindsight, the building of a physical barrier with Mexico to deter illegal immigration was the bare minimum of what is needed.
What has happened in Los Angeles these past few days is nothing but an anti-democratic riot, which elected Democrats have refused to condemn. A shameful indictment of a political party that once represented the working man.”
My comment to Senator Banks’ BS!
Rebuttal: When Propaganda Replaces Policy
Let’s break this down. The post above would have you believe Los Angeles is a “third-world country” because Americans exercised their First Amendment rights. It’s telling that the same people who watched armed insurrectionists beat police officers with flagpoles on January 6th—then called them “hostages” and “patriots”—suddenly become law-and-order cheerleaders when the protesters aren’t in MAGA hats.
Let’s be clear: protesting injustice is not terrorism. Burning a flag is protected speech. And criticizing ICE isn’t the same as endorsing violence. If that logic held, then Donald Trump must personally endorse every violent act committed by one of the many insurrectionists he pardoned.
And no—President Trump did not legally “deploy” the National Guard to Los Angeles. Governors control National Guard deployment in their states. That means Gavin Newsom—not Trump—decides when and how the Guard is used in California. Saying otherwise is a lie or a fundamental misunderstanding of how federalism works. And if you want to talk about a president using troops on civilians, let’s not forget when Trump tear-gassed peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square for a Bible photo-op.
Now let’s address the favorite fear tactic: “mass deportations.” That isn’t a policy. It’s a fascist fantasy. Ask yourself: what’s the plan for arresting and deporting millions of people? Raids on homes? Schools? Hospitals? Camps? We’ve seen this movie before, and it doesn’t end well for liberty. It ends in atrocity.
Also—using the tragic deaths of Laken Riley or Jocelyn Nungary to justify collective punishment of immigrants is not just heartless. It’s intellectually dishonest. The truth is most violent crime in the U.S. is committed by native-born citizens. If safety were the goal, we’d focus on guns, not fearmongering.
As for that “majority support” for mass deportations? That CBS poll was heavily partisan—and even so, it showed the country is split. It also didn’t ask whether Americans understood the economic, logistical, and humanitarian chaos mass deportations would cause. Polls are not mandates, especially when they’re manipulated.
And ten years after Trump descended that escalator, he’s still selling the same hate—but with more legal problems, more indictments, and now, a cult following willing to believe that protests against injustice are riots, but attempted coups are just “tourism.”
If Democrats are guilty of anything, it’s refusing to match that level of propaganda punch-for-punch. But here’s what they actually support:
• Due process
• Sensible border reform
• A path to legal status for long-term, law-abiding residents
• Stronger oversight of ICE and CBP abuses
• And the radical notion that no one deserves to be dehumanized based on where they were born.
You want to talk about shame? Shame is turning human suffering into campaign fuel. Shame is cheering for mass incarceration and mass deportation while ignoring the root causes of migration. Shame is calling protesters criminals while pardoning actual seditionists.
If this country’s going to survive the next decade, we’d better wake up to the authoritarian smoke Trump is blowing. The real disgrace isn’t in the streets of Los Angeles. It’s in the Oval Office.
We’ll talk about this in person when you have the guts to face your constituents in person, in a Town Hall. We’ll bring donuts! (He won’t do a Hall but sent donuts to one held to his empty chair)
Julie Bolejack, MBA
P.S. feel free to share and use what I wrote as needed
