OPINION:
When the streets of Los Angeles descended into scenes more fitting of a failed state than a major American city, mobs set fire to police cruisers and looted entire city blocks. Over the past few weeks, videos circulating online have shown American flags being ripped down and replaced with the flags of foreign nations, some carried by rioters proudly waving them through the smoke-filled streets. Storefronts were shattered, innocent bystanders attacked and law enforcement officers bombarded by chunks of concrete thrown from highway overpasses.
These weren’t peaceful protests or spontaneous demonstrations; they were full-fledged riots, driven by radical, anti-American sentiment and a complete rejection of the basic principle that laws apply to everyone. The spark for the unrest? The enforcement of immigration laws that have been on the books for decades.
Rather than accepting that the federal government has the right and obligation to enforce its borders, the radical left has responded with violence, with the aid of Democrats and their allies in the media.
President Trump acted decisively by calling in the National Guard to protect innocent lives and restore order. The president understands what far too many Democrats refuse to acknowledge: When cities are under siege, it is the duty of government to protect its citizens. The federal government cannot and will not sit on its hands while parts of the country burn.
Let’s be clear-eyed about how we got here. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other radical California leftists have spent years turning the state into a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, weakening law enforcement and demonizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Mr. Newsom’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities has created a breeding ground for chaos.
The reaction from former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris further shows how fortunate this nation is that she was not elected last year. The former vice president issued a statement blaming Mr. Trump, of course, not the agitators and criminals who are causing the violence.
These Democratic leaders have no choice but to excuse the radicalism and coddle the radicals because they are afraid to cross the leftist base that dominates their party. The results are plain to see: streets overrun, businesses destroyed, law-abiding Americans terrorized.
The message from Democrats is clear: If you break the law for political reasons they agree with, they will look the other way.
Equally complicit are their media allies. Outlets such as CNN and The New York Times were quick to spin this disaster.
Brian Stelter, CNN’s staff apologist for Democrats, downplayed the riots on his X account, claiming, “Offline, in real-world Los Angeles, most Angelenos are having a perfectly normal day,” he posted on June 10. “But online, the fires and riots are still raging.”
Mr. Stelter approvingly quoted and posted a New York Times story that also sought to minimize the riots, probably because they correctly perceive that the violence is bad politics for Democrats.
“Dubious Emergencies” is how that Times headline described rioting, looting, car burning and general chaos in America’s second-largest city. The story leaned on “scholars” to explain why Mr. Trump was the bad guy in the situation.
However, Americans see through this nonsense. The blame doesn’t fall on the president, who is trying to restore order; it falls on the rioters in the streets and the radical politicians who have enabled them.
What’s notable about this moment in time is that it proves that the Democrats didn’t hear a single word voters said in the November presidential election. What to do about illegal immigration was a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump won in an election that was not particularly close, as he swept all seven battleground states.
In many ways, that election was a referendum on immigration, law and order and the difference between common sense and insanity. Voters chose sanity, and Democrats know this.
Yet rather than learn from their defeat, they have doubled down.
Democrats continue to pander to a radical base that thinks America is the problem, borders are racist and police officers are the enemy. They would rather see a city burn than admit that Mr. Trump was right.
This is a defining moment for elected officials who say they want a role in leading this country into the future. It’s about more than Los Angeles; it’s about whether the United States will be a country governed by laws or by mobs.
The American people spoke clearly at the ballot box last November and called for a return to commonsense law enforcement and border control. While President Trump and congressional Republicans are working to deliver results for the American people, it’s painfully obvious that Democrats still aren’t listening.
• Rep. Ben Cline, a Republican, represents Virginia’s 6th Congressional District.
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