A key Trump loyalist senator is downplaying Democratic outrage about federal intervention in heated protests in Los Angeles.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who was speaking on Fox News' "America's Newsroom," was reacting to criticism by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
"I think all those people need to pop a Zoloft and relax a little bit," he said. "I don't think this situation is especially complicated. You don't need to be an astrophysicist to figure it out. We've got a wolf problem in Los Angeles. They're not peaceful protesters. They're wolves. They're hurting people. They're destroying property."
Contrary to Kennedy's description, while there have been 50 arrests and a handful of destructive incidents, including the torching of self-driving vehicles, the protests in Los Angeles have been overwhelmingly peaceful and contained within a five-block radius downtown, with no deaths and no destroyed buildings.
As ABC News has noted, this is a massive difference from the 1992 Rodney King riots, the last time the National Guard was deployed to Los Angeles, which saw hundreds of businesses trashed, entire city blocks burned, and 60 people killed.
The protests, which were set off by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids against day laborers, have been met with an extreme showing of force by the Trump administration, which activated the National Guard and sent in hundreds of Marines.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused the president of sending in the troops under false pretenses and lying about the interactions they have had over the issue. He has also moved forward with legal action to stop the federalization of the National Guard in his state.