‘America,
this is a warning’: pro- Trump Maga media in a froth over Europe protests
Fox News
and others have toed president’s line – seemingly hoping unrest abroad will
make people vote Republican
Thu 22
Oct 2026 13.00 CEST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/22/trump-maga-media-europe-protests
Donald Trump sought
to capitalize on the scenes of unrest in France, telling
a crowd in Kansas on Monday that “migrants” and “communists” were
responsible, and that the scenes were “what the radical ‘Dumocrats’ want to do
to America”.
As Republicans struggle
to convince voters across the country ahead of November’s midterm elections,
Trump’s allies in the conservative media have followed suit, seemingly hoping
that the scenes in France can scare people to the polls.
Sean
Hannity, perhaps Fox News’ most prominent host, delivered his version of the
message on Tuesday. Speaking over clips of fires in France, with the chyron “A
warning from Europe” emblazoned on the screen, Hannity said: “This is,
sadly I argue, by design – an attempt by the left to destroy the free world,
western civilisation, if you will.”
He added:
“This is a preview of coming attractions here in America.”
Hannity
wasn’t alone. On Monday, Fox
News host Laura Ingraham had on Jamie Metzl, who describes himself as a
“technology and healthcare futurist [and] geopolitical expert”, to draw the
same comparison.
Protesters
clash with police during a demonstration by high-school students in Montpellier
last week. Photograph: Sylvain Thomas/AFP/Getty Images
“If you
like what you’re seeing in France then you should support these DSA candidates
who are essentially calling for the same thing here,” Metzl said.
He was
only echoing something Ingraham herself had said a few days
earlier, in front of a cartoon version of a police flashing light with the
words “A warning to America”. The chyron, as she spoke, could not have had a
clearer message. It said in all capitals: “Don’t let America become France.”
“America,
this is a warning. From the immigration disaster there, to the fiscal
mismanagement, the same promises: free college, government-funded healthcare,
tax the rich, climate change, open borders – they’re all being sold here, and
they were implemented, some of them, here by AOC, Bernie, El-Sayed,” she said.
Most of
the rest of Fox News agreed. Jesse Watters played clips of protests of violence
in France on Monday,
announcing that the goal is “to replace communism with capitalism”.
“It’s
already started to happen here,” Watters added.
Lawrence
Jones was of the same mind on Tuesday, reading out a tweet from JD Vance in
which the vice-president said of the situation in France: “I hope Americans are
paying attention. This is the future congressional Democrats seek for your
country.”
Jones responded: “The
vice-president is exactly right.” He then interviewed Ben Domenech, an editor
at the Daily Wire, who also agreed with Vance. The scenes in France, Domenech
warned, are “the consequences of becoming apologetic about their values,
viewing nationalism as something which is a dirty word”.
Fox News
wasn’t alone. On Newsmax on Monday, Bianca de la Garza was
busy asking Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator, if the situation
in France is a “wake-up call for America”.
Santorum
said it was. “The people who are running as democratic socialists or really
just any sort of mainstream Democrats if you will, leftists, they want to bring
the economy and style of government of Europe to this
country,” he said. That, Santorum said, would lead to violent protests in the
US.
“The
standard of living of the average European is far below the standard of living
of Americans,” Santorum said, which would come as a surprise to the people who
are paid
to research such things.
Protesters
at the Piazza del Duomo in Milan on Saturday. Photograph: Piero
Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images
The same
day Greta Van Susteren had interviewed Tom
Emmer, the Republican congressman from Minnesota, who trotted out the same
line.
“Look,
we’ve got the same example in this country that we better be watching what’s
going on in France. We want everyone to come to this country and chase their
American dream. We want them to come here legally. And we also, Greta, want
them to come to be Americans. We celebrate culture in this country like no one
else,” he said.
“If you
don’t come to this country to be an American, what you’re seeing in Paris is
what is going to happen. You cannot have a different country within your
country,” Emmer continued.
One
America News (OAN), arguably the most rightwing of the three channels, was not
about to be left out.
On
Monday, OAN invited
Andrew Fox, whom it described as a “cultural expert”, on to the channel to
discuss the protests. Fox, who has 433 followers on X, said: “If we pay
attention to what’s happening in Paris we can see our near future, if we don’t
really toughen up immigration policy and the integration of how those
immigrants become one with the nation they’re joining.”
Rounding
out the message was David Pollack, one of OAN’s hosts, who at least adjusted
his message slightly by looping in Italy. He tweeted a
video of protesters in Italy, adding: “Now it’s happening in Italy: import the
third world, and this is what you get. The sad thing was, this was all by
design. And the Marxists are coming for the United States next.”
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