Democrats efforts to recast illegal immigration enforcement as the problem rather than the solution reached a new low this week on ABCs The View, where co-host Whoopi Goldberg smeared federal agents tasked with upholding the law.
During Mondays broadcast, the panel turned to the recent fatal shooting of anti-ICE activist Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a case the left has eagerly tried to weaponize against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to Western Journal, clear video evidence shows Good physically obstructing an ICE operation, refusing repeated commands to exit her vehicle, turning her wheels toward an agent, and then hitting the accelerator, forcing that agent to fire in self-defense.
Despite those facts, the usual chorus of progressive activists and media allies has attempted to transform Good into a martyr and the ICE agent into a villain. Goldberg went even further, using the incident as a pretext to malign the entire agency and misrepresent President Donald Trumps immigration agenda.
You said you were going after the bad guys, Goldberg declared in a clip posted to X, formerly Twitter, referring to Trumps enforcement priorities. Thats what you said: the violent criminals. And what does it turn out? The violent criminals seem to be in the agency.
Her co-hosts nodded along and the studio audience applauded, rewarding the slander rather than questioning it. The show then cut to commercial, leaving viewers with the impression that ICE agents men and women enforcing duly enacted federal law are the true violent criminals.
Goldbergs characterization bore little resemblance to reality. Trump did not pledge to limit enforcement to only the most violent offenders; throughout the 2024 campaign, he repeatedly promised the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, signaling a broad and unapologetic enforcement posture.
The most egregious falsehood, however, lay in Goldbergs blanket smear of ICE personnel as violent criminals. That accusation did not merely criticize policy; it maligned the character and integrity of federal officers who routinely face danger while carrying out their duties.
Perhaps realizing she had crossed a legal or ethical line, or perhaps nudged by producers and network lawyers during the break, Goldberg attempted a half-hearted walk-back when the show returned. Either way, what followed was less an apology than a clumsy effort at damage control.
Before we go on, I before folks gather around and say, Oh, shes accusing all of the folks at ICE of being criminals That is not what Im doing, Goldberg said in another clip posted to X. And just so Im clear, it feels sometimes that there is no one watching the henhouse. OK? So before yall start blowing it into all kinds of other stuff, just know that its nuance speaking.
Her invocation of nuance rang hollow, especially given the sweeping nature of her original charge. Viewers were expected to believe that the problem lay not in her rhetoric, but in the audiences supposed inability to appreciate her subtlety.
Goldberg has a history of chafing at on-air corrections, often treating them as an annoyance rather than a responsibility. This time, she sounded less indignant than absurd, trying to recast a broad-brush smear as a sophisticated critique of oversight.
The larger issue extends far beyond one daytime talk show. With the help of media figures like Goldberg and her co-hosts, Democratic politicians and activists have spent years conditioning their base to see immigration enforcement itself as immoral, even criminal, while portraying those who defy the law as victims or heroes.
That inversion of reality has consequences, both for public safety and for the morale of law enforcement officers who find themselves vilified for doing their jobs. Until influential platforms stop rewarding this kind of rhetoric and start acknowledging the legitimacy of border security and immigration law, viewers should expect more strained nuance from Goldberg and, tragically, more confrontations that turn violent when agitators are encouraged to treat federal agents as the enemy.
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