Democrats learned a lesson from Donald Trump’s return to the White House: getting arrested is good politics.
It’s for good reasons that Americans recoil when prominent political figures are manhandled, put in handcuffs, or have their mugshot taken live on camera. We all love the idea of politicians in handcuffs or being thrown into jail, but we rightly expect that this will only happen if they commit crimes.
Lawfare is incompatible with our values.
Images of Handcuffed Democrats Start to Pile Up in Trump’s Crackdown https://t.co/7wcIX4C4b5
— Patrick Lovell (@PatrickLovell1) June 18, 2025
Of course, Democrats engaged in a multi-year campaign of lawfare against Donald Trump and his associates, and it didn’t work out so well for them. So, in an odd twist, they are attempting to employ ninja tactics and stage stunts to get themselves arrested.
A United States senator forced to the floor and handcuffed by federal agents for interrupting a news conference. A mayor taken into custody by masked officials in military-style fatigues. A political candidate pushed against a wall and handcuffed in a dispute at an immigration courthouse.
With tensions rising over President Trump’s mass deportation policies, the government crackdown is extending to the political opposition.
As Democrats struggle to push back against the administration, federal agents have arrested or clashed with a growing number of the party’s elected officials. The scenes of chaos reflect the tinderbox nature of this political moment, and the expanding national battles over due process, the rule of law and the system of checks and balances.
“This is executive authority, especially in the Department of Homeland Security, running out of control,” said Senator Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat. “Do the members of Congress need security details to defend themselves from the executive branch? God, I hope not.”
There is, of course, a major difference in substance between the persecution of Trump and the arrests (or manhandling) of Democrats: Democrats are actually posing threats to law enforcement, interfering with the exercise of their duties, or even lunging at Trump officials like the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Their arrests are caught on video, but so are their offenses.
Notice how Democrats don’t show this longer video that clearly shows Alex Padilla getting violent with federal agents?
This man committed a crime that J6ers got thrown in prison for years for pic.twitter.com/vFUKYIkzDV
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) June 12, 2025
The idea is to portray Trump’s America as a reborn Nazi Germany, and the Democrats as brave members of the Resistance standing up for the voiceless.
NO ONE is above the LAW ! Not even self-righteous politicians!
I Voted for This 👏
NYC Comptroller and mayoral hopeful Brad Lander ARRESTED by feds at immigration court for meddling in ICE operations!
Fox 5 reports Lander tried to sneak a man out to dodge detention.… pic.twitter.com/DyVqC9gbQf
— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) June 17, 2025
I spent the last few hours at 26 Federal Plaza. My main takeaway: if this is what Trump’s ICE gestapo is doing to elected officials, how are they treating our most vulnerable neighbors when there are no cameras and no witnesses? pic.twitter.com/xqJBoZjF6x
— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) June 17, 2025
Even the New York Times expresses skepticism about the trend.
The most recent instance came on Tuesday, when Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller and a mayoral candidate, was arrested at an immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan as he tried to escort a migrant whom agents were seeking to arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security suggested that Mr. Lander, who has trailed in polls of the mayoral race, was seeking to “undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment,” and said that he had assaulted law enforcement, claims he denied after his release later Tuesday.
Certainly, plenty of politicians over the years have gotten themselves arrested in an effort to draw attention to themselves or their cause. Many elected Democrats have rushed to show how fiercely they are opposing Mr. Trump’s administration, and have been rewarded for doing so by the party’s base. Accusations of grandstanding flowed in quickly from Republicans on Tuesday.
BREAKING: Democrat NY Governor Kathy Hochul admits she had all charges dropped against Comptroller Brad Lander following his arrest today for assaulting ICE Agents.
This gives Leftists a green light to attack ICE. pic.twitter.com/hwrrBPaTJJ
— Dapper Detective (@Dapper_Det) June 17, 2025
It’s doubtful that most Americans will be outraged by law enforcement’s enforcement of the law, but its also likely that they will react with something like “a pox on both your houses.” That is, the small number of people who are actually persuadable. Liberals will see tyranny, and conservatives will see Democrats causing chaos by grandstanding.
If you or I locked arms with a suspect that federal agents were trying to arrest, actively obstructing them, would we be let go and on MSNBC a few hours later?
We’d be sitting in federal lockup with a broken face, waiting on our arraignment hearing. pic.twitter.com/rBZq7hHt9y
— john jackson (@pvtjokerus) June 18, 2025
The bigger problem Democrats have here is the cause to which they are dedicating themselves: these politicians are getting arrested in the name of illegal immigrants. Deporting illegals is popular in the United States, and throwing yourself at law enforcement to block them from doing their jobs makes them look extreme.
NY state governor Kathy Hochul announced the state of NY will pay $50 million dollars in lawyers’ fees for migrants .
— Viral News NYC (@ViralNewsNYC) June 18, 2025
Trump was arrested for being Donald Trump; these officials are being arrested for interfering with law enforcement doing the job most Americans want them to do. It’s not the same thing.
These are both headlines from the New York Times pic.twitter.com/YQn3vVohuI
— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) June 18, 2025
Democrats are doing this because they have little else they can do. The party infrastructure is fracturing, as demonstrated by union leaders resigning from the Democratic Party’s national committee in a huff, and the only thing that unites the party is a desperate desire to destroy Trump. It’s a great distraction from the chaos within their ranks, and a way for individual politicians to raise their profile.
Democrats tried staging a soft coup and failed
Arrest them pic.twitter.com/ZVJGgmJozA
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 18, 2025
Will it harm Trump politically? It’s hard to say. Certainly, stunts like this will not determine who wins the midterms–the economy will, as well as the inevitable pendulum swing away from the party in power. Trump will be able to overcome the midterm curse if the economy is humming along, and will lose seats in the House if it isn’t.
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander: I thought it was important to bear witness for folks who are having their due process denied. Trump is coming for our cities and for the rule of law, and we’ve got to find ways to stand up pic.twitter.com/KDVmCFZgxF
— FactPost (@factpostnews) June 18, 2025
Individual Democrats can benefit from these stunts, but the Party itself? Not so much.