Senator Cory Booker’s latest comments about the turmoil in Los Angeles have added fuel to an already explosive national debate. On Sunday, amid thick smoke, burning vehicles, and federal agents ducking concrete projectiles, Booker went on national television and called the anti-ICE protests “peaceful.”
Yes, peaceful.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Booker tried to thread the needle—denouncing violence in the abstract while insisting that what viewers were watching on their screens wasn’t as bad as it looked. “The reality is we see peaceful protests launching in Los Angeles,” he said, claiming that the chaos was being driven by President Trump’s decision to arrest “people who are trying to abide by the law.” The line sounded eerily familiar to anyone who remembers the infamous “fiery but mostly peaceful protests” chyron from CNN in 2020.
But this time, the contradiction was almost too much to ignore.
Footage and firsthand reports from the ground have painted a far different picture—one of sheer lawlessness. Federal officers attacked with bricks and fireworks. ICE vehicles damaged, their windshields shattered. Roads blocked, public property vandalized, and rioters setting fires in the heart of downtown. The decision by President Trump to deploy the National Guard came as those events reached their breaking point. And while critics, like Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, expressed outrage at the deployment, many lawmakers and federal officials argued it was not only appropriate but overdue.
Senator @CoryBooker thinks the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles — in which criminal illegals and violent mobs are hurling concrete projectiles at vehicles, lighting fires, and attacking federal law enforcement — are "peaceful." pic.twitter.com/zdshuTeJdP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 8, 2025
The White House’s “Rapid Response” team didn’t waste time calling out Booker’s remarks. Sharing the clip on X, they wrote: “Booker thinks the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles — in which criminal illegals and violent mobs are hurling concrete projectiles at vehicles, lighting fires, and attacking federal law enforcement — are ‘peaceful.’”
Republican lawmakers followed suit. On CNN’s State of the Union, Senator Markwayne Mullin flatly rejected the “peaceful protest” label, saying the demonstrators were clearly “not under control.” Representative Tony Gonzales, a combat veteran, went further on CBS’s Face the Nation, calling the protestors “anarchists” and urging Trump to “put down the mob as soon as possible.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appeared on the same program and defended the National Guard’s presence in Los Angeles. “They’re there to provide security for operations and to make sure that we have peaceful protests,” she said—a clear shot at the growing perception that the only reason order returned to parts of the city was due to federal intervention.
Booker, however, deflected attention back to Trump, criticizing his response and referencing the Capitol riot on January 6 to suggest hypocrisy. But with the situation on the ground showing little resemblance to anything “peaceful,” critics say Booker’s deflection isn’t just misinformed—it’s dangerously dismissive.