Donald Trump sought to capitalize on recent civil unrest in France by telling a rally crowd in Kansas that “migrants” and “communists” were responsible for the chaos, describing the scenes as a blueprint of what radical Democrats intend to bring to America.
As Republicans face an uphill battle to sway voters ahead of the November midterm elections, conservative media outlets have amplified this narrative in an apparent bid to drive voter turnout through fear of foreign instability.
Fox News host Sean Hannity broadcast footage of fires in France over an on-screen graphic reading “A warning from Europe,” telling his audience that the unrest was intentionally orchestrated by the left to dismantle western civilization and served as a direct preview for America. He added: “This is a preview of coming attractions here in America.”. Most of the rest of Fox News agreed. Fox News and others have toed president’s line – seemingly hoping unrest abroad will make people vote Republican.
Fellow Fox host Laura Ingraham echoed these concerns, bringing on geopolitical expert Jamie Metzl to connect European unrest with domestic Democratic Socialist candidates, while displaying a graphic warning viewers not to let America become France. “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. According to he was only echoing something Ingraham herself had, 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. “Look, we’ve got the same example in this country that we better be watching what’s going on in France. You cannot have a different country within your country,” Emmer continued.
Ingraham attributed the French crisis to an immigration disaster combined with fiscal policies such as free college, government healthcare, and climate initiatives, warning that similar policies are being pushed domestically by figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and Abdul El-Sayed. 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, from the immigration disaster there.
Other network personalities joined in, with Jesse Watters broadcasting protest footage to claim an agenda to replace capitalism, while Lawrence Jones highlighted a social media post from Vice-President JD Vance warning that congressional Democrats envision a similar future for the United States. Announcing that the goal is “to replace communism with capitalism”, jesse Watters played clips of protests of violence in France on Monday.
Jones subsequently interviewed Daily Wire editor Ben Domenech, who asserted that the French turmoil stems from apologizing for traditional values and treating nationalism as a pejorative term. The scenes in France, Domenech warned, are “the consequences of becoming apologetic about their values, viewing nationalism as something which is a dirty word”.
On Newsmax, former Republican senator Rick Santorum responded to host Bianca de la Garza by labeling the European situation a wake-up call, claiming that mainstream Democrats and leftists want to replicate European governance and economic structures in the U.S.
Santorum argued that such an economic model would trigger domestic violent protests and asserted that the European standard of living falls far below that of Americans.
Meanwhile, Republican congressman Tom Emmer appeared alongside Greta Van Susteren to urge vigilance against foreign trajectories, emphasizing the necessity for immigrants to legally enter the country with the express intent of assimilating into American culture.
One America News also focused heavily on the protests, featuring cultural commentator Andrew Fox, who argued that Paris demonstrates the urgent need to tighten immigration policies and integration frameworks to maintain national cohesion. 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. Adding: “Now it’s happening in Italy: import the third world, and this is what you get, he tweeted a video of protesters in Italy.
OAN host David Pollack expanded the narrative to include Italy, sharing footage of local demonstrations and contending that importing populations from the developing world inevitably leads to such outcomes, which he claimed were designed by Marxists targeting the United States next.
