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The LA riots have become a case study in media distortion — where radical agendas, dark money and Trump’s wild popularity have all been hidden behind slick, partisan reporting.

Over the weekend, violent riots erupted in Los Angeles after ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents arrested over 100 illegal immigrants in majority Latino neighbourhoods.

Protesters blocked the 101 Freeway, set fire to Waymo vehicles, and clashed with police, whose ranks swelled after President Donald Trump deployed thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to quell the unrest. In the days since, the rioting has spread to New York City, San Francisco, Austin and Dallas, among other cities.

Australians took particular notice of the riots when one of our own — Nine News journalist Lauren Tomasi — was unceremoniously hit in the leg by a rubber bullet.

But as Aussies tune into the unfolding drama, they will unfortunately fall victim to deeply dishonest reporting from a press pack animated by a longstanding vendetta against Trump.

If you want to hear the official narrative, keep reading the papers and watching the nightly news. But if you’d like to know what’s actually happening in LA, read on.

SUPERCUT!

Corporate media: These murderous riots are actually mostly peaceful pic.twitter.com/9Aig54BoH2

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 9, 2025

Here are six facts the propaganda press won’t tell you about the LA riots.

1. Australian Outrage is Misplaced

Australian reporting on the story has centred on the unfortunate injury suffered by Lauren Tomasi.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese quickly denounced the incident as “horrific” and “not acceptable,” and confirmed that he raised the issue with the Trump administration.

But Albo was also short on facts. He claimed that there was “no ambiguity” about Tomasi’s status as a reporter, and that she was “wearing a helmet” and was “clearly identified” as a member of the press.

Was she? Judge for yourself:

Also omitted by Mr Albanese — and most media reports — was that LAPD had just declared a “tactical alert” and warned media to “please keep a safe distance from active operations”. The footage above suggests Tomasi had ignored that direction.

But Australian outrage was misplaced in more important ways.

Nary four years ago, thousands of peaceful Australians were set upon by Victoria Police armed with rubber pellets, pepper balls, and foam baton rounds — all for the “crime” of protesting the world’s longest Covid lockdown. Among them were families with children. Many demonstrators were shot at almost point-blank range, suffering serious injuries.

Where was the outrage then?

As Caldron Pool has mused, “It seems rubber bullets are only condemned when fired at journalists abroad defending freedom of the press, not when they’re used against everyday Australians standing up for their freedoms at home.”

Where was the Australian media’s outrage over these rubber bullets? pic.twitter.com/7Oj8YaQV5z

— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) June 10, 2025

2. The Press Favours Violent Rioters Over Trump

By and large, Australian news outlets are dutifully echoing America’s pro-Democrat media, which is presenting rioters in sympathetic terms, casting protests as “peaceful” (now where have we heard that before?), and framing the Trump administration’s response as authoritarian.

The New York Times editorial board, for instance, ran a piece on Saturday titled ‘Trump Calling Troops Into Los Angeles Is the Real Emergency’ — never mind the rampant chaos, car fires or widespread looting.

In another satire-adjacent media moment, an ABC reporter warned against the use of law enforcement to clear “what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn”.

🚨SUPERCUT — Every time the media called these violent riots “peaceful.” pic.twitter.com/euuYOJXFFo

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 9, 2025

The propaganda press has generously lent its microphone to political actors like US Congresswoman Maxine Waters who claimed there was “no violence” on the streets and, channelling Orwell, urged the American public, “don’t rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents you saw”.

They’ve given ample airtime to Governor Newsom who has described the destruction of his state’s largest city “a Trump manufactured crisis”, and city mayor Karen Bass who claims that “things in LA are calm”.

While Los Angeles burns—officers ambushed, city in chaos—Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and Maxine Waters call the riots and insurrection “peaceful.” These leftists don’t care about your safety. They side with mobs.

PRESIDENT TRUMP STANDS FOR LAW & ORDER—AND WILL CRUSH THE CHAOS. pic.twitter.com/neWMbv7yps

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 9, 2025

Meanwhile, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has conceded, “We are overwhelmed” and warned, “There’s no limit to what they [the rioters] are doing to our officers”. And Senator John Fetterman, one of the few sane Democrat voices on the saga, has labelled events in LA “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,” he wrote.

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. pic.twitter.com/pPYbvP6xR0

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 10, 2025

3. ICE Arrested Child Rapists and Mass Shooters

Conveniently missing from most media reports are details on who precisely ICE arrested before rioters launched their violent response.

Let’s cross to the (more conservative-leaning) New York Post:

Some of the illegal immigrants detained in the ICE raids that sparked Los Angeles’ riots are convicted criminals with rap sheets for sexual assault, gang activity and even murder — including a Vietnamese national convicted of carrying out a mass shooting at a high school graduation party that shocked Southern California.

You’d think the press would inform the public about this important context. So ask yourself: why isn’t the press informing the public about this important context? And why are protesters upset about these arrests?

.@RealTomHoman: “ICE took a lot of bad people off the street that day. We arrested a sexual predator, we arrested gang members, we arrested somebody that had an armed robbery conviction. So, we made LA safer… but you’re not hearing any of this. All you’re hearing is rhetoric… pic.twitter.com/ceJ9eGNsZa

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 9, 2025

4. The Riots Are Organised, Not Organic

The legacy media wants the public to view the LA riots as a spontaneous, grassroots uprising against President Trump’s immigration policies. But according to independent reports, the chaos unfolding in California is part of a well-funded, highly coordinated operation.

Footage has emerged showing pallets of bricks conveniently left at protest flashpoints, bionic shields and face masks distributed en masse, and rioters equipped with gas masks, earplugs and water bottles, as well as cinder blocks ready for use as projectiles. These are the calling cards of a professionalised activist machine.

BREAKING: The FBI arrested the guy who dropped off the bionic face shields for the rioters in LA pic.twitter.com/ChmF91fZWX https://t.co/8lsNYByN9W

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 12, 2025

Multiple members of Congress have identified specific groups involved. CHIRLA, an LA-based nonprofit, has been flagged by Senator Josh Hawley after records emerged showing it received $34 million in Biden-era grants while running “rapid response” operations to obstruct ICE. Alarmingly, 72% of CHIRLA’s 2023 revenue came from California taxpayers — meaning residents are unknowingly funding the very unrest gripping their own state.

Another group linked to the riots is the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — a Marxist outfit behind coordinated protests in LA, San Antonio and beyond. Investigations reveal that billionaire Neville Singham — who has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party and has also funded pro-Palestinian campus protests — is backing PSL’s nationwide efforts.

Indivisible and the No Kings Collective are also likely involved. Named by US Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, their network includes big-name activist groups like ACLU SoCal, AFT, CWA, and Sunrise Movement — all flush with donor and union money.

Did you hear any of this on the six o’clock news?

5. Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Wildly Popular

The media would have you believe that Trump is the harshest immigration enforcer in history, but the numbers say otherwise. Bill Clinton deported or returned 12 million illegal immigrants, George W. Bush 10 million, and Barack Obama 5 million. Trump’s first term saw just 2 million deportations and returns. Joe Biden reversed course with 4.5 million, while Trump’s current term sits at around 300,000. By historical standards, Trump’s record is relatively restrained.

It’s also extremely popular.

CNN, no friend of Trump’s, recently aired a segment showing that his net approval on immigration has, in their words, “gone up like a rocket” — climbing from -21 in 2017 to +1 today.

CNN: “Trump’s net approval rating on immigration, it’s gone up like a ROCKET. There is no issue on which Trump is doing so much better than he was in first term more than the issue of immigration.”

🚀🔥 pic.twitter.com/1t7jIXsHu3

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 9, 2025

That shift reflects a broader national mood. A CBS/YouGov poll taken less than a week ago found that 54% of Americans support Trump’s deportation program. Rasmussen puts support for removing criminal illegal immigrants at a staggering 79%, with 56% calling it “very important.” Meanwhile, 59% of likely voters approve of Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to restore order in downtown LA, according to an Insider Advantage poll published Tuesday.

By all accounts, Americans want their nation to have a secure border — and they’re glad the president they elected is delivering on that promise.

If you believe the media’s spin on US immigration, your view will align with an activist fringe — but it won’t reflect reality.

6. The Rioters’ Real Cause is a Marxist Revolution

On the surface, the LA riots are a reaction to Trump’s immigration enforcement, but their true motivation is ideological.

This isn’t about border policy — it’s about revolution. From the Palestinian flags waved in Mexican-American neighbourhoods to the involvement of LGBT protest groups to the chants of “From LA to Rafah, there is one common oppressor,” the unrest is soaked in radical left-wing dogma.

What ties it all together is intersectionality — the belief that all grievances, no matter how unrelated, share a common enemy: the West. Under the worldview of Western Marxism, truth bows to identity groups, and “justice” is a cover for revenge.

It’s why keffiyehs are showing up at protests ostensibly about ICE raids, why BLM, queer and pro-Hamas slogans mix freely, and why LA’s own mayor, Karen Bass — a former attendee of Cuba’s communist indoctrination programs — is fanning the flames instead of putting them out.

A movement fuelled by Marxist doctrine has coalesced under the banner of “compassion” and “equity” — but its true aim is to tear America down to its foundations. And the legacy media, even in far flung Australia, is running water for the entire show.

Here’s a tip: tune out of the lies and subscribe to The Daily Declaration instead.