In yet another infuriating moment on the ever-worse Fox News Channel, host Trey Gowdy suggested that the gunman who ambushed and fired upon ICE agents was potentially a MAGA supporter out to exact vengeance on ICE detainees. As could be expected, the mind-boggingly dumb and inappropriate comment infuriated Fox News viewers online.
As background, Gowdy’s remarks came in the context of an attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas that left one detainee dead and two wounded. The gunman was apparently trying to fire at a van driven by ICE agents, and kille the agents, but was only able to hit the detainees.
That came when Gowdy, amongst other Fox News personalities, discussed what might have been going on with the motivations of the shooter involved, with Gowdy being asked what had happened with the shooting and responding by saying that it was unclear what the gunman was doing and he might have been MAGA.
“Talk to me about this moment, legally,” Gowdy was asked. Responding, he explained, “To know the motive, you’ve gotta know the target.” He then argued that the shooter’s online presence needs to be scoured, and those close to him interviewed, so authorities can “get a sense of if he was aiming at ICE agents.”
Continuing, Gowdy then speculated that the shooter might have been a MAGA American who wanted to exact his own form of vengeance on the illegal aliens detained by ICE, saying, “Or… or, was he implementing his own form of due process for these detainees and killing them?” He added, “Due process does not include a citizen taking a shot at somebody — no matter how long they’ve been in the country illegally.”
Building on that, Gowdy insisted that the motive is unclear and here we need more details, saying, “I know people love motive and in this particular case I want to know the motive.” Gowdy did, however, admit that ICE agents have been “vilified for years.”
As could be expected, Gowdy was skewered online. One X poster, for example, wrote, “Trey Gowdy has revealed himself to be a complete stooge over the last 5 years or so. Guy is just a closet Hicklib. Yeah man, I’m sure someone shot up an ICE facility because they wanted to kill illegal aliens, who were already on their way to being deported. So dumb.”
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Similarly, another poster questioned why FNC even bothers bringing Gowdy on anymore, writing, “Why does @FoxNews continue to bring on @TGowdySC? He clearly hates conservatives and wants to try to ignore actual facts. Hey Trey. The shooter hated Ice Agents. That is who he was after.”
Watch him here:
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, by contrast, skewered the anti-ICE rhetoric that has long come from the left. She said, “Our prayers are with the families of those killed and our ICE law enforcement. This vile attack was motivated by hatred for ICE. For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed. This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences.”
Continuing, she noted, “Comparing ICE Day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, we just want to go home to our families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop. We are praying for the victims and their families.”