Sunday Shows Mostly Enable Jacob Frey’s ‘Love’ and ‘Resistance’ Shtick

Jorge Bonilla
January 18th, 2026 8:26 PM

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The Elitist Media’s Sunday shows, in furtherance of preserving MInnesota’s civil unrest over interior immigration enforcement, booked Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for another round of softballs and patty-cake. With perhaps one exception, they all enabled his inflammatory rhetoric.

The most provocative bit of rhetoric by Frey was this bit he rolled out across the dial: that the quadrupling down on sanctuary city policy and subsequent violence it begets are not the result of obstruction of federal immigration enforcement, but acts of love and resistance. Watch as Frey rolls this out on CNN’s State of the Union:

JAKE TAPPER: Earlier this week, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial board wrote that your state is, quote, “under siege" and compared the situation in Minneapolis to a, quote, “military occupation.” Is that how you see it? Is Minneapolis being occupied by the federal government?

JACOB FREY: Invaded, under siege, occupied. You know, use whatever word or superlative that you want to attach. But the bottom line is what is taking place is designed to intimidate. It is not fair. It's not just and it's completely unconstitutional. 

But one of the beautiful things that's taking place is that the people here in Minneapolis are not just resisting. They're standing up. They're standing up for their neighbors. They're lovin’ people. They're making sure that they got a ride to the grocery store, a safe walk to their car. They're making sure that they have those basic necessities that they need, because we got a whole lot of people that are afraid to go outside at the risk of getting torn apart from their own families. And so in the face of a whole lot of adversity, I'm so proud to be from Minneapolis. I'm so proud to be the mayor of this awesome city with these extraordinary people. They're peacefully protesting. They're standing up for one another.

And, you know, like I said, it’s not just going to be resistance here in this city. We’re not backing down. We’re not going to be intimidated.  

Tapper offered Frey a chance to deescalate, which he passed upon. What is most notable about this interview is that immigration enforcement doesn’t get substantially mentioned until the end of the interview, and here Frey doubles down again.  

The pattern repeated at ABC’s This Week, with Jon Karl enabling Frey’s “love and resistance” gimmick:

JON KARL: It is remarkable in your city right now, as you have just laid out, that federal law enforcement officers outnumber local police by five to one. What is your message to protesters on how they should handle that situation? I have heard you say several times, don't take the bait. What is your message now to protesters?

FREY: The message hasn't changed. And at the same time, we have had tens of thousands of people in Minneapolis stand up and protest peacefully. We have got people sliding down these hills of ice to attend the protests and making sure that people would have food that are scared to go outside because they're afraid of having their families ripped apart. You know, I think it's important to tell the whole country that this is not just about resistance here in Minneapolis. It's about love. We are showing something far more powerful and consequential here, which is love. We are standing up for one another. You have got neighbors helping neighbors. You've got people uniting and coming together in this beautiful way. Obviously, we have got these threats out there from the federal government that were literally designed to intimidate Minneapolis residents, to intimidate me. But here’s the thing. We're not going to be intimidated. We've got this beautiful city full of extraordinary people. I have never been prouder to be from Minneapolis. 

Karl very subtly set that up by pointing out the number of federal agents versus Minneapolis Police officers, thus reinforcing a siege narrative. Karl offered no pushback to the idea of resistance, except to question whether telling ICE to get the f*** out of Minneapolis was turning the temperature down, setting Frey up for a “no regrets” moment. And then the interview wrapped.

Over at NBC’s Meet the Press, it was wash, rinse and repeat. Host Kristen Welker elicits that response as a rejoinder to DeputyAttorney General Todd Blanche’s statement calling Walz and Frey’s obstruction “terrorism:

KRISTEN WELKER: Well, let me ask you because on Tuesday the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted this. I'm going to read it to you, get your reaction on the other side, quote: "ICE operates in thousands of counties without incident. Men and women doing their jobs, protecting us from criminal aliens. Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a failed governor and a terrible mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It's disgusting. Walz and Frey, I'm focused on stopping you from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It's a promise." He is accusing you of terrorism, Mr. Mayor. How do you respond?

FREY: Yeah, never once have we pressed for violence against any law enforcement officer. My primary job in Minneapolis is to keep people safe. That safety is being put in jeopardy. Not by our Minneapolis residents, not by our local law enforcement that is working tirelessly, but by an invasion that is taking place in our city. I mean, we have around 600 police officers, and there are somewhere in the range of three to even four thousand ICE agents and border control. If the goal is safety, if the goal is maintaining peace, I'll tell you, there's a very good antidote to some of the danger we've been seeing. It's just to have ICE leave. 

And so we have been working very hard with a number of different jurisdictions to keep the people of our city safe. People in our city have been working very hard to keep themselves safe. I mean, it's been completely inspiring to see tens of thousands of people in our city standing up for their neighbors. It's not just about resistance. It's about love. It's about love for the people of our city. You know, sliding down icy sled hills to attend a protest or making sure that somebody's got an escort to the grocery store and they're not just randomly picked up in the meantime. I mean, this is the concerning kind of stuff that’s taking place in Minneapolis and I think people around the country should be very concerned about it.

Welker rebutted by playing a carefully curated segment from Walz’ video address where he talks about taking cell phone video, and not his earlier press tough-guy conference wherein he likened ICE to The Battle of Gettysburg. But as you saw above, she let Frey pontificate. No interruptions or pointing the pen while hissing and saying “just to put a fine point on this…” Welker was a spectator as Frey put his own fine points on his dangerous rhetoric.

The closest thing we got to pushback on Frey came, believe it or not, from CBS’s Margaret Brennan. There was no Faces of Brennan-level of hostility here, but nonetheless:

MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of what's happening in your city, the Minnesota National Guard was mobilized Saturday by the state, which the police chief supported as potential support for his local law enforcement. They have not been deployed. Do you think your city needs them and how would you describe the protests this weekend?

FREY: We are doing the work to keep people safe in our city. And specifically, it is our local police officers. It is the state of Minnesota and our governor. We are doing everything possible to keep the peace, notwithstanding this occupying force that has quite literally invaded our city. I mean, we've got 600 cops in the city of Minneapolis and we're talking about 3,000 plus ICE agents and border control that have come in. They're not making our city safer. In fact, our city has been safe. Crime is down in virtually every category in virtually every neighborhood of the city.

BRENNAN: You said "occupying force." Don't you think that's a -- it's a bit much?

FREY: I mean, look, you can go through whatever rhetorical flourish you want, but when you have 3,000 ICE agents and border control come to the city, when you've got this supposed threat of 1,500 military coming to the city, yeah, that's very much what it feels like. When you outnumber local police officers five and six to one, that is the vibe. And so, the bottom line is, if the goal were safety, this is not how you get there. If the goal is safety, can I give you a very antidote to some of the violence we're seeing and that is have them leave.

BRENNAN: Well, they argue- the administration, that is- The argument is that this is a sanctuary county and sanctuary city and they are enforcing federal immigration law. And that therefore this is called for. That they're cleaning up a mess that the last administration created. I mean, is -- how do you prescribe in this unprecedented situation for local and federal officials to work together here?

FREY: We have worked together. We do work together when this is about getting murderers and rapists and all the other bad stuff that Kristi Noem just said off the street. We have worked with the DEA and the FBI. We've worked with the ATF and the U.S. Attorney's office to drive down crime, get violent criminals off the streets and on the north side, shootings are the lowest that they've ever been, I believe, on record. And so, nobody's against that, but that is not this. This is not about safety. What this is about is coming into our city by the thousands and terrorizing people, simply because they're Latino or Somali. And yeah, people in Minneapolis are speaking up. They're speaking up peacefully. They're standing up for their neighbors. And this is not just about resisting Trump. This is about loving and caring for the people that call this city home. 

To her credit, Brennan was the ONLY Sunday host to bring up the prior open border regime that led to this situation, and that Minneapolis is a sanctuary jurisdiction. Frey’s response was to dismiss these concerns over inflammatory rhetoric as…you guessed it, love and resistance.

BRENNAN: Well, on the ICE actions themselves, your attorney general out in Minnesota, Keith Ellison, has asked Minnesotans to gather information about federal actions and post them on his website. What's the intent of those incident reports, and I understand the- in theory what this is, but if you are saying that it is not safe for civilians to be inserting themselves in enforcement operations or even surrounding enforcement operations, aren't you asking them to do something that is endangering them?

FREY: No. Civilians should not be involved in enforcement operations. Taking a cell phone out and videotaping what's going on is not enforcement. That's transparency. You know, sunlight can be the best disinfectant. And in this case, yeah, they’re disinfecting some of the really horrible things that are taking place on our street. Because, you know, to the extent that ICE agents are doing things that are unconstitutional, by the way, they are. This is their opportunity to make sure that it is seen, it is judged and that we get our day in court.

BRENNAN: Well- I think the whole country is hoping for civility and peace and security. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. We’ll be right back. 

You can hear Brennan sighing throughout that statement, before she moved to wrap him up- especially the part where Frey alludes to ICE’s presence as an infection upon the city. Pretty dehumanizing stuff. Other than Brennan, there was no interest in challenging Frey on anything he had to say. The elitist media are as invested in Frey’s dangerous narrative as he is.

 

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