Conservative Ideal America Video Goes Viral
If there's one thing conservatives love to do, it's making American cities feel like dangerous, scary trash heaps that are constantly burning to the ground. To them, New York is unlivable, Minneapolis was a war zone, and now, all eyes are on Los Angeles — a city Donald Trump claims was "once great" but is now being "invaded" by "illegal aliens and criminals."
As someone who actually lives in LA, I can tell you that narrative is completely detached from reality. First of all, LA wasn't "once great" — it's always been great, and it's always been an immigrant city, which, contrary to conservative panic, isn't a flaw. It's the foundation. The name is LOS ANGELES, remember?
Second of all, the city isn't under "attack" by "criminals and illegal aliens" — fear-mongering buzzwords the right loves to throw around to paint a false picture of chaos. Quite the opposite, actually. In truth, LA is hurting not because of its people, but because ICE is barging into homes and workplaces. The fear here isn't coming from the streets. It's coming from our own federal government.
People have been protesting peacefully. Things didn't escalate until Trump sent in 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines. Yesterday, a coworker told me what's usually a 12-minute drive home downtown took him half an hour because the National Guard, not protesters or even local police, were standing around clogging the streets.
Even Gov. Gavin Newsom called the move "reckless," "pointless," and "disrespectful to our troops" in a post on X. "This isn't about public safety. It's about stroking a dangerous President's ego," he said.
And yet, conservative media keeps pretending the city is being overrun by "insurrectionist mobs" (lest we forget who actually did storm the Capitol). Most people are still just trying to live their lives — working, commuting, taking care of their families — but now under the added weight of fear, anger, and disruption. The protests are mostly peaceful and, relative to the size of LA, contained. Genuinely, I don't think people realize how big this damn city is. It is not the same.
Alas, this brings me to everyone's not-so-favorite conservative grifter: Charlie Kirk, who tried to contrast the moment by posting a clip of a "small town" set to the country song "Small Town USA." He wrote, "I wonder why America's small towns are so placid, lovely, and orderly. It's a total mystery."
In the clip, a girl proudly shows off her idyllic idea of "small" town Americana. She shows us a covered porch with an American flag:
A parade with American flag-waving locals:
Cops on horseback:
A pickup truck strolling by:
A tractor strolling by:
And, naturally, racks of American flag merch.
She also takes us to a farmer's market.
A lake house (with, you guessed it, more American flags).
And a beach-themed bar.
You get the picture: "placid," patriotic, and...very white.
As someone from Michigan myself, I instantly recognized the town; it's Rockford, MI, a wealthy suburb just outside Grand Rapids, the second largest city in the state. And many others did too, pointing out another crucial detail about this "lovely" little town: it voted blue in the last two presidential elections.
"I love how every time these LARPers post 'small town' and 'real American' content to contrast with L.A. its always affluent suburbs that vote Democratic," one viral tweet said.
Another pointed out: "because this town voted for harris by a 52–45 margin."
Note: The Kent County margin was 52-46, rounded.
Even former Republican Rep. Justin Amash weighed in: "This is Rockford, Michigan, which is a suburb of Grand Rapids, and part of the congressional district I represented. Rockford voted for Biden over Trump in 2020 and Harris over Trump in 2024. I didn't vote for any of those candidates. Just reporting the facts."
Another person also remarked the absurdity of calling the area a "small town": "I love the framing of Rockford being a small town lol. 3rd biggest high school in GR and is essentially an annex of the city. But tractor on street."
"This is clearly not a small town, which would be obvious if you'd ever spent time in one," another added.
And while the county has recently leaned blue, it's still very white — Kent County is 72% white, compared to the national average of 58%. That might explain why Charlie Kirk was drawn to the video in the first place, which, notably, featured almost no Black or brown people.
"So what Charlie Kirk is implying here is that small American towns are nice because there are no brown people," one person tweeted.
"They don't even hide the blatant racism anymore," added another.
All in all, this tweet may have said it best: "People who live in small towns are scared of cities, and people who live in cities are scared of small towns. People who have lived in both are only scared of small towns."
As someone who's lived in both small towns (in Michigan too!) and now Los Angeles, I can't say I disagree. But, as always, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
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