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Megyn Kelly laid out a disturbing pattern on her January 12 broadcast, calling out what she dubbed the “Karen Intifada” — a wave of performative outrage from left-wing activists and influencers aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kelly highlighted social-media posts from people she described as hysterically celebrating or even fantasizing about violence against ICE agents, arguing this rhetoric crosses from protest into outright menace.
The backdrop to this fury is the visceral footage from the Minneapolis operation that ended with Renée Good shot dead by an ICE officer on January 7, a case that has inflamed every corner of the political spectrum. Videos and competing narratives—federal officials say agents were endangered while others argue the footage raises serious questions—have made the incident a brutal Rorschach test for America’s media class.
What should worry anyone who believes in the rule of law is how quickly the narrative morphed into a nationwide excoriation of ICE, with celebrities and pundits rushing to moralize without waiting for facts or investigations. Mark Ruffalo, Wanda Sykes and others used high-profile stages to signal virtue and demonize federal officers, turning tragedy into theater and cheap political points. The spectacle at awards shows and on social platforms risks normalizing hostility toward law enforcement tasked with enforcing the nation’s laws.
Kelly was right to call out the casual calls for violence she found online. No conservative or honest liberal should condone people fantasizing about hurting public servants simply because they disagree with a policy. Rhetoric that dehumanizes those who keep communities safe invites copycat acts and further erodes trust in civil institutions.
Meanwhile, local officials seized on the shooting as proof that federal immigration operations are reckless, with Minneapolis and state leaders moving quickly to challenge the federal presence and even file lawsuits. The impulse to politicize every tragedy into a campaign against federal agents serves political theater far more than public safety.
The real conservative response is not reflexive defense of every action by federal agents but a call for thorough, transparent investigations while resisting the mob’s rush to judgment. We can demand accountability and keep America safe at the same time; the two are not mutually exclusive. That measured approach is being drowned out by pundits who prefer hot takes and celebrities trading hashtags for moral authority.
Let’s be clear: weaponizing grief for political gain and cheering on the idea of “turning to violence” against ICE is corrosive. Those who perform righteous outrage on social media but ignore the rule of law are part of the problem, not the solution. A civilized society must condemn both brutality and the bloodlust that certain corners of the internet now celebrate.
If anything useful comes from this tragedy, it should be honest national conversations about oversight, training, and accountability for federal law enforcement conducted away from the theater of celebrity virtue signaling. Until then, observers should resist the temptation to amplify reckless calls for violence and instead insist on facts, due process, and the dignity of every human life.
