The moderator of r/catbongos, an 800,000-member subreddit devoted to videos of people playing their cats like drums, never posted about politics before Saturday. But after watching clips showing Border Patrol agents killing intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the 30-something professional poker player from Washington State decided to take a stand.
“If you still support Trump/ICE even slightly, you’re not welcome in this sub,” wrote the moderator, known online by his username “8_guy.” “We can no longer tolerate the people who are supporting or making excuses for this.”
The moderator didn’t know how this post would go over; the forum’s most heated dispute had been about whether other animals being played like bongos should be allowed. But the anti-ICE post exploded, receiving more than 40,000 Reddit upvotes, and many readers have since responded with praise and similar posts, unleashing the most intense flood of political criticism the subreddit has seen since its 2020 launch.
“People just have this built-up anger,” the moderator told The Washington Post in an interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of concerns of harassment. “It got to the point where we all just felt enough is enough.”
The intensity of outrage over Pretti’s death has broken through the internet’s tribal barriers, transforming traditionally apolitical online spaces into sounding boards for fierce criticism of the administration’s immigration crackdown.
On Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube, influencers who have built vast and politically neutral audiences with content about cooking, sports and fashion have suddenly opted to speak out in fury about the clashes in Minnesota, bringing many of their fans along for the ride.
Even some prominent conservatives broke with the political right to criticize the Trump administration. The conservative radio host Erick Erickson, who initially called Pretti an “agitator,” reversed course after reviewing the footage, writing on his Substack that the rush to “malign him as quickly as possible” was a huge mistake. Former congressman Trey Gowdy, now a Fox News host, was even more blunt about the administration’s condemnation of Pretti on the cable network. “We certainly should not be labeling him as being a domestic terrorist who is going to execute cops,” he said. “There is no evidence to support that.”
The extent of the outrage reflects the growing challenge for the Trump administration to win Americans’ support for a crackdown that has led to multiple deaths and fueled nationwide protests.
Even before Pretti’s killing, majorities of voters told pollsters that they condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s work and thought it was making cities in the U.S. less safe. About 48 percent of Americans said Pretti’s killing by the Border Patrol was not justified, compared to 20 percent who defended it, a YouGov poll published Sunday found.
But it also highlights how a scattered assortment of influential voices has gained power in a fragmented landscape for modern media, and are choosing to use it however they like. The loyalty and attention they’ve built over years on the internet have given them a direct line to like-minded viewers, helping redraw the barriers that once defined American culture and political life.
“When something is this obvious and this visible, it becomes a moment that does disrupt that normal division” of social media, said Jessica Maddox, an associate professor at the University of Georgia who studies online communities. “The power of witnessing has been able to break through some of these silos people put themselves in.”
Trump administration officials have portrayed Pretti as a violent demonstrator who attacked Border Patrol. Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said he “showed up to impede a law enforcement operation.”
Under pressure from Republicans in Congress, Trump said Monday he is recalling some agents along with Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who said Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents. Trump also spoke to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Monday. “The president agreed the present situation can’t continue,” Frey wrote on X.
Posts critical of ICE or Pretti’s killing have gone viral on communities and among influencers devoted to adventure biking, baseball and “Lord of the Rings.” On Meta’s Threads, the concept has become a meme itself, with creators devoted to travel, sewing and women’s personal finance all posting messages that they could not stay apolitical in the face of violence that posed an existential threat.
“This is a bourbon account but I can’t drink bourbon if ICE shoots me in the face,” wrote a whiskey influencer on Instagram, in a post that has been liked 150,000 times. After Pretti’s killing, the influencer posted a message: “If you find yourself in a spot where you are saying ‘I didn’t vote for this’ it’s ok. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
The videos’ virality across platforms, and the visceral horror of Pretti’s killing as captured by witnesses from different angles, has helped the clips reach audiences that may otherwise be politically disengaged, Maddox said.
On YouTube, Charlie White, a video game influencer, posted an 18-minute video about the killing, titled, “This Should Make You Very Angry,” that has been viewed more than 3.7 million times in a day. And on TikTok, the fitness influencer Scotty Flynn posted an expletive-filled commentary that has been viewed more than 14 million times.
“F— getting political, that was murder,” Flynn said. “I’m done playing the middle ground. … We are not mad enough.”
Some online users expressed unease at the rush of political posts, saying they preferred to keep their escapist hobbies untouched by current affairs. On r/Grimdank, a 500,000-member subreddit dedicated to the miniature-figurine war game Warhammer 40,000, an anti-ICE post led one viewer to ask, “Can we stop bringing American politics in wh meme sub?” After an argument, in which one respondent said it was “hard to ignore people being executed in the street,” the original post was removed.
Social media, particularly in heated political moments, also has a spotty history as a place for constructive debates. Online posts against racism and police brutality in 2020, after the killing of George Floyd, sparked criticism that the so-called “slacktivism” was performative and noncommittal, with few real goals for tangible action.
But for some creators, Pretti’s killing and the pileup of ICE confrontations in American cities was already being seen as an “inflection point” driving them to further express their anger and political beliefs, said John Young, a golf influencer in Rhode Island with nearly 20,000 Instagram followers. He posted a video Sunday showing him tee off alongside a message telling viewers that “politics is at your doorstep whether you like it or not.”
Some followers angrily commented that he should stick to sports, Young told The Post, but hundreds of others sent him messages encouraging him to keep speaking out — especially given his audience of golf enthusiasts, who traditionally leaned conservative, White and male. He said he had just made plans to talk soon with a pickleball influencer eager to share with his audience the same outrage.
“For some people this conversation often centers around the costs of speaking out, because they feel they need to protect their brand, their financial incentives. But there’s a cost of saying nothing, too,” he said. “I refuse to wake up in five or 10 years and look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘You had a platform and did nothing.’”
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