After the Capitol riot, the mainstream media weaponized the words“insurrection” and “insurrections” on a daily basis. Anyone even remotely connected to the events of that day was tracked down, thrown in prison, and, in some cases, left to rot in cells without due process. Donald Trump himself was accused of “inciting an insurrection” or even “leading an insurrection.” But suddenly, they have a problem with that word.
But now Trump is using the word, and it’s a huge problem.
“Agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist, Alex Pretti’s stock has gone way down with the just released video of him screaming and spitting in the face of a very calm and under control ICE Officer, and then crazily kicking in a new and very expensive government vehicle, so hard and violent, in fact, that the taillight broke off in pieces,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “It was quite a display of abuse and anger, for all to see, crazed and out of control. The ICE Officer was calm and cool, not an easy thing to be under those circumstances! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, after discussing the latest video of Alex Pretti, read Trump’s post on Friday afternoon, and of course, the word was considered problematic. Yes, the same network that once couldn’t go ten minutes without using that term to describe MAGA protesters was now discussing whether the word was difficult or even inflammatory.
“It seems that this, what we initially heard just a couple days ago, which was an effort to try to distance the president from the comments made over the weekend by top administration officials, you know, saying using terms like domestic terrorism and assassin,” New York Times White House correspondent Zolan Kanno-Youngs began.
“After the president received calls from his allies, you saw him try to distance himself from those comments. He said that he was interested in de-escalation. He sent Tom Homan to Minneapolis too, who said that they were interested in a draw down if they could reach an agreement with Minneapolis officials,” Kanno-Youngs continued. “And then just a day later, you now have this rhetoric, which seems to go back toward the weekend's rhetoric, which is casting blame on the victim of this shooting. This is something that Democrats are going to be watching on the Hill, who I would think were more confident over reaching a deal when they heard the rhetoric, at least the intention to calm down the rhetoric. They're going to be watching this.”
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He added, “But also remember, Tom Homan is in active discussions right now with officials in Minnesota that are also watching to see what the administration's intentions are here. If they're actually serious about a potential draw down, comments like this by the president at 1:26 am using terms like insurrectionists, don't exactly back up the argument that you're actually putting in the effort to calm down the situation here and lower the rhetoric, as Tom Homan stated yesterday."
On Dana Bash's show, the journalists are upset that Trump is using the term "insurrectionist" as unproductive. Zolan Kanno-Youngs says Democrats will be watching....when all these people used this I-word incessantly for years after January 6. "Deadly insurrection" was common. pic.twitter.com/kCTlo4a9JA
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) January 30, 2026
Seriously, how many times did CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, and every other legacy media outlet accuse protesters of taking part in an “insurrection” and accuse Trump of inciting or leading one? They used the word relentlessly, without hesitation, caveat, or concern. Now, Trump uses it once about Alex Pretti, and suddenly, it’s labeled as dangerous rhetoric.
I can’t even.
I love seeing their favorite word is being turned against them, against the narrative they’ve carefully crafted. Why? Because it makes them nervous. We’ve all seen the video of Alex Pretti, whether it was from the day he was shot or the earlier video. He looks more like an insurrectionist than nearly any of the January 6 protestors. Make no mistake about it, that’s why they’re clutching their pearls when Trump dared to use the word. It’s classic leftist double standards: weaponize language when it suits you, condemn it when it doesn’t.
