MSNBC’s Ari Melber went to impressive lengths Tuesday night to try and downplay the riots that have plagued Los Angeles for the past few days. On his show, The Beat, he tried to make the impact these riots had seem as minimal as possible. “Let's tell you here in the news what we know,” Melber explained, providing a weak rundown of the facts:
They have occurred now across roughly four days, hundreds of people have gathered in different locations, on Monday night, there were about 100 arrests, there were some violent incidents. The situation required law enforcement, which traditionally patrols these areas.
Just about every part of this summary downplayed or understated an aspect of the situation in one way or another.
Melber put the number of protesters in the hundreds; in reality, while there were no specific statements on the number of people, it was widely accepted to have been in the thousands. Melber referred to “violent incidents,” a very gentle way of describing counts of attempted murder of police officers, looting, and resisting arrest. The law enforcement necessary for the situation far exceeded the officers who typically patrolled the area. Even without President Trump’s federalizing of the National Guard, officers were called in from across California to help manage the situation.
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. steve malzberg
. steve malzberg
