Political pundit Chuck Todd ripped President Trump on Sunday over his decision to direct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expand deportation efforts in cities run by Democrats.
The president in a Truth Social post Sunday urged ICE agents “to do all in their power” to help reach the administration’s mass deportation goals in certain large U.S. cities, as protests around the country grow in opposition to his immigration agenda.
“He’s openly admitting that he’s politicizing law enforcement,” Todd wrote in a post on the social platform X responding to the news. “This will not help ICE’s image because he’s asking them to perform a political task.”
Trump has argued for days that cities like Los Angeles would have “burned to the ground” if he had not deployed federal troops to areas where protests against immigration enforcement activities have in some cases led to rioting and looting.
The president and his allies have sought to blame Democrats for the ongoing controversy over immigration issues, with the president saying in his Truth Social post “these, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens.”
Todd, however, balked at Trump’s assertions and suggested the president is setting a dangerous precedent.
“Throw in the decision to shield the red states from law enforcement and he’s clearly hoping to provoke an angry response,” the former NBC News analyst and “Meet The Press” moderator said. “At a moment when we need a president to de-escalate, he does the opposite.”
