MAGA podcaster says ‘we need prejudice’ because ‘stereotypes are all true’ amid Trump’s ICE raids
‘Stereotypes are stereotypes because they are generally true,” Daily Wire host Michael Knowles said on Tuesday while defending Trump’s deportation raids.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Far-right provocateur Michael Knowles defended Donald Trump’s mass deportations on Tuesday by telling his audience that the president was merely getting rid of violent criminals, all while arguing that “we need prejudice” because “stereotypes are all true.”
Communities across the United States have been gripped in fear for weeks as they braced for raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid Trump’s promises to clear out “illegal criminal migrants” and send them out of the country. In cities like Chicago and New York, thousands of immigrants have already been swept up in these “made-for-TV” raids, handcuffed, loaded into military planes, and flown to other countries.
Local leaders and immigration advocacy organizations have criticized the large-scale immigration arrests for causing “fear and anxiety” while also impacting legal American citizens, who have also been detained by ICE agents. Meanwhile, Republicans and Trump’s allies in MAGA media have cheered on the deportations, mocked those upset over the arrests, and called for politicians who have pushed back on the administration’s actions to be targeted and even arrested.
During his Daily Wire show on Tuesday, Knowles insisted that the Trump administration was only going after dangerous criminals with its immigration raids and that his viewers should dismiss any criticism coming from progressives.
“Because what the left wants you to do is, when you think about the people being deported, they want you to think about doe-eyed little kids being deported or innocent old grannies trying to make some paella,” he declared. “That is not who’s being deported. Full stop.”
Saying that “there is an argument to deport anyone who is in this country illegally,” Knowles claimed that’s “not who Trump is deporting.” Instead, according to the right-wing pundit, the president is only arresting “rapists, murderers, human traffickers, drug dealers, psychos and actual Satan-worshiping face tattooed gangsters.” Knowles then noted that the “face tattoo part is really important because it paints an image for people,” adding that it conjures up images of gang members.
“It means when they hear deportation, they’re gonna think about this crazy MS-13 guy who rapes teenagers and beheads people,” Knowles declared. “That’s what you’re gonna think of. If the Democrats control the language and control the narrative, you hear deportation, you’re gonna think of a sweet little doe-eyed five-year-old Dreamer. But that’s not it. That image actually does not reflect reality. The image that is evocative, that also reflects reality, is the face-tattooed guys.”
He would go on and assert that while prejudice “can be a bad thing” if it is “unjust,” it is also a “basic conservative insight” and necessary, likening it to a choice in breakfast cereal.
“We need prejudice. You use prejudice all day long,” Knowles said. “You don’t rationally consider and write fifty-page-long treatises on every decision you make. You just kinda do it. Why do you reach for the Cheerios instead of the Raisin Bran? I don’t know. You just kinda like Cheerios more. It’s just a prejudice.”
He also praised the use of stereotyping, insisting that it is beneficial because it never ends up being false.
“You just go on your gut. OK? And your gut is usually right. That’s the part the libs don’t wanna tell you. Your gut is usually right. And stereotypes are all true,” he proclaimed. “It doesn’t mean that they apply to every individual within certain categories, but stereotypes are stereotypes because they are generally true.” Knowles concluded: “And a guy with a face tattoo and a mean-looking mug who doesn’t speak English and has weird gang signs on him, he is not going to be the head of your local bank, and you should probably get him out of your country.”
Despite Knowles’s certainty that the Trump administration was only going after the “worst” criminals “first” in the United States illegally, which is how the president and his “border czar” Tom Homan have framed the raids, government data suggests that roughly half of the people swept up by ICE have no criminal record.
According to data first obtained by NBC News, ICE arrested a total of 1,179 people on Sunday, which is more than the 956 arrests that the agency first acknowledged. However, only 613 of those total arrests were considered “criminal arrests.” At the same time, the rest appeared “to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments