Fox news anchor's on-air rant against LA rioters
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A news anchor in Los Angeles lost his cool live on-air while watching a car burn and seeing rioters hammering out chunks of sidewalk. 'I don't see why it can't be stopped right now,' Fox 11's Elex Michaelson said during the broadcast, as a network helicopter beamed back footage in real time late Monday.
'I mean, you got all these people out there, and we see what's happening, and every station is showing it happening, and they're smashing up rocks and they're setting fires on the street,' he continued 'And yet, everybody is allowed to wander and do their thing.' As Michaelson spoke, protesters in the shot were seen using hammers to break off debris before stuffing it into backpacks.
'And yet, if our parking meter goes two minutes too long, there's a ticket right there,' Michaelson raged. 'How does that happen? I mean, who are we protecting?' The journalist - fresh off an interview with Gov. Gavin Newsom - then asked 'what our priorities are right now as a society.' 'This guy's allowed to hack the sidewalk,' he said. 'But god forbid I'm two minutes late on my parking meter.'
Joining him remotely was retired LA police officer Nick Wilson, who now runs the Los Angeles Sheriff's Professional Association. The union boss sat quietly through Michaelson's diatribe before agreeing with him. Wilson singled out two of the city's top cops - LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Sheriff Robert G. Luna - as the parties who should be facing such questions. 'This should be ended right now,' he said.
Michaelson referred to those caught on camera as 'thugs, anarchists, idiots,' expressing disbelief at the scene unfolding before him. 'Literally, what we were just looking at together was somebody taking a hammer to the sidewalk, to then be able to get rocks in their bag to throw at law enforcement,' he said. 'That's what we're watching. I mean that's what's happening right now live on our cameras.'
The day before, demonstrators were seen in the same area hurling debris off on an overpass at California Highway Patrol officers. Hours prior, hundreds of federal agents arrived on the orders of President Donald Trump. 'Look at what you're seeing. This looks like a third-world country right now,' Wilson told Michaelson Monday as the fourth day of protests continued.
'Should this be ended? Can it be ended? Absolutely. Is it? No.' Earlier on Monday, Michaelson welcomed Newsom for an in-person interview, where the politician accused Trump of acting like a dictator. 'He's not for peacemaking. He's here for war,' Newsom said, adding that he plans to sue the Trump administration.
'He wants a civil war on the streets of America, not just here.' Violence escalated with the deployment of National Guard on Sunday, with cops later confirming dozens of arrests. By 11:30pm Monday - when Michaelson offered his real-time reaction - protesters were still setting fires and forming barricades with objects they found on the street.
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