Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly is warning that backlash over the aggressive antics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could harm Donald Trump and the GOP in the midterms.
Speaking on her SiriusXM show, Kelly cited polling that suggests Americans are largely opposed to ICE agents’ heavy-handed tactics in U.S. cities—including the fatal shooting of Minneapolis mother Renee Good—and that support for Trump’s hardline immigration policies is eroding.
Among the data Kelly highlighted was a newly released YouGov poll showing that just 30 percent of Americans believe the killing of Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross was “justified,” compared to 50 percent who said it was unjustified. Most Americans also believe ICE is making U.S. cities less safe (47 percent) rather than safer (34 percent).
“Would you support or oppose abolishing ICE,” Kelly said while breaking down the numbers. “Support: 46 percent—just four points short of 50 say we want to abolish ICE. Oppose: 43 percent. I mean, that’s just not good.”
Kelly also noted that the influential election forecaster Cook Political Report has shifted 18 midterm House races toward Democrats, signaling that Republicans could lose control of the lower chamber in November.
“This could be directly related to what we’re seeing in Minnesota, and the propaganda being pushed by the mainstream on it,” Kelly said. “Could be related to Venezuela, where some 57 percent say they’re unhappy with the decision to ‘run’ Venezuela,’” she said.
“So I don’t want to blame it all on what’s happening with ICE, but it does look like what I call the disinformation that’s being put out by the media around this ICE shooting may possibly be having an effect.”
Elsewhere, a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found that 53 percent of Americans believe the shooting of Good was not justified, compared with just 35 percent who said Ross was correct to fire three times at point-blank range.
That survey also found that 57 percent disapprove of ICE’s aggressive enforcement of Trump’s immigration policies, while 40 percent approve.
Later in her show, Kelly claimed the backlash to agents manhandling people on the streets—and the protests that have erupted in cities like Minneapolis—are “completely astroturfed” by Democrats in an effort to damage Trump politically.
“The polls were terrible on police and the crackdowns on bad guys in the streets committing crimes after George Floyd, and then they totally reversed,” Kelly said. “But it took a couple of years, and we don’t have a couple of years until the midterms.”
“So Trump’s got an interesting question to ask himself, because today he’s saying, ‘If you don’t start behaving in Minneapolis and stop impeding law enforcement, I’m going to declare that it’s time to use the Insurrection Act and send in federal, like National Guards, to protect these ICE agents,’ and you know, s–t’s going to get even more real.”
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