"We witnessed something today only seen in dictatorial regimes. California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla exercised his First Amendment rights and fulfilled his constitutional obligations to ask a question of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem while in his home state. He was viciously manhandled, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed. This is fascism."
~ Jennifer Rubin
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/1
“If they can handcuff a US Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you.”
~ Gavin Newsom
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/2
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/today-in-politics-bulletin-150-61225
"On Thursday, US Senator Alex Padilla was physically ejected from a press conference being held in a federal building, forced to the ground, and handcuffed by federal agents (FBI?) for having the temerity to ask a question of Secretary Kristi Noem, who was at that very moment threatening to remove the democratically elected Mayor of Los Angeles."
~ Robert B. Hubbell
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/3
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/its-an-attempted-coup-we-must-stop
"The assault on a US Senator feels like an assault on each of us and deserves full-throated condemnation....
Trump has given permission for lawless and thuggish behavior by federal agents.
The Trump administration has lied about the incident, and some major media outlets (NYTimes) have obligingly parroted the administration’s lies about the incident."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/4
"If it can happen to Senator Padilla, it can happen to all of us.
That is Trump's point: He wants us to experience fear and doubt over exercising our First Amendment rights. We cannot allow that to happen!"
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/5
"Moments after Noem made the remarks about, essentially, trying to undermine the authority of local and state elected Democrats in California, Padilla was forcibly removed from the briefing room, forced to lay on the ground face-down and placed in handcuffs. Because he tried to ask a question."
~ Nicole Lafond
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/6
"This is what has happened recently in the United States:
A United States Senator, Alex Padilla of California, was physically assaulted, forced to the ground, and handcuffed by agents acting for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as he attempted to ask her a question."
~ Lucian K. Truscott
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/7
"Noem had just returned from a raid on the home of an immigrant family in Huntington Park, California. The agents were attired in full combat gear, including helmets, Kevlar vests, and camouflage fatigues. They carried fully automatic M-4 rifles fitted with 20-round magazines and were wearing masks. They did this under color of law."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/8
"Padilla stated, 'I am Senator Alex Padilla,' before attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question.
That is...kinda really important.
As we speak, the right wingers over at FOX are convincing themselves that roughing up a US Senator was just fine and dandy because Padilla did not identify himself and bum rushed Noem. It is, of course, a lie."
~ Dalbert
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/9
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/12/2327602/-I-am-Senator-Alex-Padilla
FYI, according to the video footage, Padilla stated, "I am Senator Alex Padilla", before attempting to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question. That is...kinda really important. As we speak, the right wingers over at FOX are convincing...
"Every Republican member of Congress should join Democrats in condemning this administration’s vicious treatment of Senator Padilla. 'A Republic if you can keep it' is now.
~ Joyce Vance
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #California
/10
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/we-are-a-democracy-but-we-can-lose
This afternoon, Washington Senator Patty Murray, who has been in the Senate for more than 32 years, rose to condemn the treatment of California Senator Alex Padilla, who was manhandled out of a press conference being held by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, after saying he had questions to ask and identifying himself as a United States Senator.
"There’s literally no way to 'both sides' this alarming and indefensible act against a U.S. senator.
That being said, I always have faith in corporate media. ... It’s clear by now that corporate media and its lackeys are now complicit in normalizing and sanewashing a very real, existential threat to our democracy and freedoms for the sake of profit, ratings, and access."
~ Wajahat Ai
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #media
/11
https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/how-corporate-media-is-paving-the
In times of doubt, you can always count on corporate media and their remoras to "both sides" Donald Trump's fascist regime and demand civility as MAGA continues to dispense violent cruelty.
"Corporate media paving the road for fascism through normalcy and civility.
~ Wajahat Ali
"They have corporate interests, which are much more important to them than you know, opposing fascism…. Opposing fascism isn't necessarily profitable. It's sort of difficult. It's messy. They don't really want to bother."
~ Noah Berlatsky
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla #media
/12
https://www.everythingishorrible.net/p/how-corporate-media-is-paving-the
A recording from Noah Berlatsky and THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali's live video
"Padilla, you should know, is not only a sitting senator. He is chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety."
~ Steven Beschloss
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/13
https://www.americaamerica.news/p/waging-war-against-america
“'If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community and out in California and throughout the country,' Padilla said…."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/14
"Secretary Noem implied that neither she nor her security knew who the senator was, but even if she had forgotten speaking with him in Senate hearings, a video of the encounter records him saying clearly: 'I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have a question for the secretary.”
~ Heather Cox Richardson
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/15
https://www.americaamerica.news/p/waging-war-against-america
"What Noem was saying before Padilla spoke out is crucially important. "We are not going away,” she said. 'We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.'"
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/16
"In other words, the Trump administration is vowing to get rid of the democratically elected government of California by using military force. That threat is the definition of a coup."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/17
"Secretary Noem is now claiming that she, along with everyone else there, didn’t even know who Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) was. This is even more absurd than you might imagine. The press conference was in Los Angeles and he’s one of the state’s two senators. More than that, he’s the ranking member of the Judiciary subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration."
~ Josh Marshall
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/18
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-want-to-rule-as-a-dictator-make-him-do-it
"Of course she knows who he is. If she doesn’t remember his face, she’s an even dumber degenerate punk than I already thought."
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/19
"Padilla is the son of Mexican immigrants, Santos and Lupe Padilla. He went into politics in 1995 because of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, the California measure that knocked all undocumented people off of many public services, including schools. He’s been a champion of immigrant communities ever since."
~ Anita Chabria
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/20
“The Trump White House would have us believe that this is some kind of isolated incident, and not part of a concerted effort to use force and intimidation against Democratic elected officials. The record lately demonstrates otherwise.”
~ Jay Kuo
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla /21
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/theyre-gaslighting-us-again
“In the past months, the regime has indicted, arrested and/or handcuffed a circuit court judge in Milwaukee, a mayor of a city in New Jersey, a sitting U.S. Congresswoman, and now a sitting U.S. Senator. The pattern is unmistakable, the message loud and clear: ‘Don’t make trouble, or we’ll come for you.’
Notably, all of these officials are women or minorities.“
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/22
"It’s going to get worse. Trumpism proceeds by the successive breaking of taboos. Each time a new one is broken, the previous one is normalized, made to look not so bad by comparison. The cuffing of Padilla was a red-line moment. And yet: There’s plenty of reason to worry that in four months, we’ll look back on it as a moment of comparative innocence."
~ Michael Tomasky
#Trump #authoritarianism #fascism #violence #FreeSpeech #AlexPadilla
/23
They manhandled him and cuffed him even after he announced who he was. Common assault.
It's quite obvious that the 'security' team had been made ware who he was and that he was handcuffed after they realized who he was. Apart from that, it was common assault.
William Lindsey 
Yvonne ‘looks undocumented’
loucovey
Alceste ('fort bien, mais...') 🇵🇸 ☮️
Andrew J Spaulding
Nathan Salwen
Angela Scholder