On Monday night's MSNBC airing of The Rachel Maddow Show, Maddow talked about the over militarization of federal agents, called people to action in protests against these agencies, and erroneously criticized President Trump’s handling of the L.A. riots as a “portrait of weakness.” Maddow took particular issue with federal agents wearing protective equipment to protect themselves from violent leftists trying to harm them.
Maddow started her criticism of ICE agents in San Diego last week by saying they were “over-militarized” “like they were invading Afghanistan”:
This time last week you might remember we brought you this story of a bananas, totally shambolic, like over-militarized, bizarre raid on an Italian restaurant in San Diego. Where the whole community came out to say, ‘what the heck are you doing?’ And the confused and bewildered HSI officers from Homeland Security Investigations, who were dressed up like they were invading Afghanistan. They responded to the neighbors turning out and yelling at them by throwing what appeared to be flash bang grenades at all the neighbors, so they could carry out a raid on busboys and waiters at this local Italian restaurant. That was last week in San Diego.
Admittedly, Maddow did a great job at making it seem like ICE came into San Diego unwarranted and began harassing protestors or ‘neighbors’ as she liked to call them.
These ‘neighbors’ attempted to block federal agents from carrying out a lawful, court warranted orders to arrest illegal migrants at an Italian restaurant in San Diego. Illegal immigrants who were suspected of having ‘fraudulent green cards,’ 19 to be exact, which was found out three months before the raid was conducted, back in February.
Maddow despised ICE’s use of flashbang grenades and less-lethal measures to disperse the crowd that was blocking the restaurant ICE was trying to enter.
She may not know this, but impeding federal agents from doing their job was a crime, therefore they were allowed to use methods of dispersion, like flashbangs, in order to carry out the lawful arrests.
A few minutes later, Maddow went on to lash out at Homeland Security officials for wearing tactical gear and looking like thugs from a “banana republic”:
I mean, did you see what happened this past week in Minneapolis, this ridiculous military dress up pageant that they put on in the streets of Minneapolis a few days ago? I mean, this is not the National Guard, this is agents from various federal agencies. Seems like there’s a lot of them from HSI, which is the inexplicable, not-at-all-trained-for-this force inside the Department of Homeland Security that they keep deploying like this. In these embarrassing, banana republic, shambolic shows of disorganized force. And what are you doing here in Minneapolis?
Maddow called the video of federal agents in Minneapolis a “military dress-up pageant” while showing clips of crowds forming around agents with some people even throwing things. She showed a sense of wanting to “demilitarize” and reduce protections for these agents.
What Maddow, and many of the protesters there that day failed to know, was that the agents in Minneapolis were not there for immigration enforcement. The agents were there conducting a criminal search warrant for drugs and money laundering. People who deal in drug and money laundering schemes tend not to have the pinnacle of moral character, meaning the risk to officer safety was high, leading to these agents needing the best protection they can have in order to keep themselves safe while enforcing the law.
Lastly, Maddow kept the bias up and tried to stoke fear of the Marines by suggesting they would be used as a weapon against the American people by a despotic Trump (Click “expand”):
Now, he's sending 700 Marines, supposedly from the Marine Corps base at 29 Palms. And that is a portrait of weakness. Right? That is what you get when you have a supposed leader, a supposed strongman, even, who can't figure out how to get the support of his people. And he knows it. That is what you get when you have a weak president, an unpopular president who sees the people are against him, who can't defend his actions, who is losing support over time and not gaining it, even on the issues where he thinks he's supposed to be strongest.
This is a president who has no other ideas and no skills to get him out of this political pickle that he is in, and who has therefore rushed right to the end and has decided that if the people are against him, well, then he will bludgeon them. He will literally bludgeon them into not protesting anymore.
CBS recently released a poll that showed 50 percent of the population approved the way in which Trump and his administration were handling immigration. For Maddow to say his immigration policies were unpopular when half of the population agreed with it and he was currently the sitting president, with immigration being a main issue he ran on, was quite delusional.
On her claim that Trump would “literally bludgeon them into not protesting anymore.” Although the National Guard had been used throughout the protests to disperse dangerous crowds that had been burning and vandalizing things through the use of non-lethal measures, Maddow’s suggestion that Trump was having them walk the streets and “bludgeon” people into submission was fairly anti-military.
Attempting to hype that false smear of the troops who were called in, she leaned on a soundbite of far-left Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), who shouted at the troops and asked them if they were going to kill her.
“What are you going to do?! Are you going to shoot some kid who's afraid of you and run?! You're going to shoot an election official?! If you shoot me, you better shoot straight!” she shrieked. “And I hope that none of you will use those guns to shoot anybody. There's no reason to shoot anybody. Don't allow them to make your service a service where you're killing people.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to view:
MSNBC: The Rachel Maddow Show
9:13:00 PM EST
June, 9th, 2025(…)
RACHEL MADDOW: This time last week you might remember we brought you this story of a bananas, totally shambolic, like overmilitarized, bizarre raid on an Italian restaurant in San Diego. Where the whole community came out to say, ‘what the heck are you doing?’ And the confused and bewildered HSI officers from Homeland Security Investigations, who were dressed up like they were invading Afghanistan. They responded to the neighbors turning out and yelling at them by throwing what appeared to be flash bang grenades at all the neighbors, so they could carry out a raid on busboys and waiters at this local Italian restaurant. That was last week in San Diego.
(...)
9:13:57 PM EST
MADDOW: By Saturday this weekend, we were on to a second day of large scale protests in Los Angeles against similarly over-the-top, militarized raids by Trump's immigration agents.
(…)
9:14:33 PM EST
MADDOW: I mean, as of Saturday night, Trump had started fulminating against the protests in Los Angeles. He had announced that he would federalize the National Guard; the first time a president has done that, against the wishes of a state's governor in 60 years. And when it was done 60 years ago, it was to protect civil rights protesters, not to threaten protesters with military force.
(…)
9:17:03 p.m. Eastern
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): What are you going to do?! Are you going to shoot some kid who's afraid of you and run?! You're going to shoot an election official?! If you shoot me, you better shoot straight! I don't know why you're in my city! You did the –
The governor was not contacted. This is Trump and his outrageous attempt to not only target our sanctuary city, but to frighten us and intimidate us. This is wrong.
And I hope that none of you will use those guns to shoot anybody. There's no reason to shoot anybody. Don't allow them to make your service a service where you're killing people. Don't do it. Defy them. Don't shoot those guns for anything.
[Cuts back to live]
MADDOW: Don’t shoot those guns for anything.
(…)
9:19:25 PM EST
MADDOW: I mean, did you see what happened this past week in Minneapolis, this ridiculous military dress up pageant that they put on in the streets of Minneapolis a few days ago? I mean, this is not the National Guard, this is agents from various federal agencies. Seems like there’s a lot of them from HSI, which is the inexplicable, not-at-all-trained-for-this force inside the Department of Homeland Security that they keep deploying like this. In these embarrassing, banana republic, shambolic shows of disorganized force. And what are you doing here in Minneapolis?
(...)
9:20:18 PM EST
MADDOW: Now, he's sending 700 Marines, supposedly from the Marine Corps base at 29 Palms. And that is a portrait of weakness. Right? That is what you get when you have a supposed leader, a supposed strongman, even, who can't figure out how to get the support of his people. And he knows it. That is what you get when you have a weak president, an unpopular president who sees the people are against him, who can't defend his actions, who is losing support over time and not gaining it, even on the issues where he thinks he's supposed to be strongest.
This is a president who has no other ideas and no skills to get him out of this political pickle that he is in, and who has therefore rushed right to the end and has decided that if the people are against him, well, then he will bludgeon them. He will literally bludgeon them into not protesting anymore.
(…)
