USA TODAY has been an invaluable resource for those following the mostly peaceful protests in Los Angeles. For example, after protesters set a fleet of self-driving Waymo cars on fire and danced on the hoods holding Mexican flags, USA TODAY ran a piece about how it was a bad idea to burn electric vehicles, because of the emissions from the batteries. If you're going to burn cars, make them plain old combustion engine cars.
USA TODAY has an opinion piece out today revealing that President Donald Trump lied about the rioting in Los Angeles as a distraction from what he was really doing.
Sara Pequeño writes:
President Donald Trump has been busy trying to distract you by bullying immigrants.
The president has been fighting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over what to do about the unfolding protests in Los Angeles – protests that the president wanted you to believe were violent, unruly and tearing the country apart.
Then, on June 14, he tried to capture your attention via a military parade. All of this seemed to serve one primary purpose: to keep people distracted from the continuous failures of the Trump administration. Distract from what? A few things, actually.
By claiming a city is burning to the ground, the Republican Party tried to blind us from the upheaval of the new U.S. vaccine policy. You might have missed that Planned Parenthood has closed clinics across the country, impacting people seeking basic health care. You probably also saw a quick flash about Trump's polling dropping, again.
Actually, Trump's numbers have held pretty well, and people don't go to Planned Parenthood for "basic health care." Oh, she also mentioned the Army's 250th birthday parade got under her skin.
We read the piece and that's pretty much the gist of it, with the exception of the "manhandling" of mild-mannered Latino Sen. Alex Padilla, who was near tears on the Senate floor Tuesday recounting his horrible ordeal.
At least we learned that at least 17 Planned Parenthood clinics have closed in the first five months of 2025.
We voted for this. Our only regret is that he's not implementing his agenda faster.
That pretty well sums it up.
"Don't let Trump's social media posts and government bullying distract you," Pequeño concludes. "The real consequences of electing him are just beginning."
Hell yeah they are.