CNN Anchor Says Anti-Trump Host’s ‘Obey or Die’ Rant ‘Really Captures The Feeling’ Amid ICE Killing

CNN anchor Dana Bash was struck by Late Show host Stephen Colbert’s “Obey or die” commentary on the Trump response to the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent.

On Wednesday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent named Jonathan Ross shot and killed Ms. Good in Minneapolis during a hotly disputed incident that was caught on camera.

President Donald Trump and his senior officials have relentlessly attacked Good since the killing, which led Colbert to speak out.

On Friday’s edition of CNN’s Inside Politics, anchor Dana Bash contrasted the Trump administration’s reactions with Colbert’s commentary, saying it “caught my attention.”

She introduced the clip by saying it was an example of how late-night hosts often “capture the feeling in society”:

BASH: Because, I mean, I know this is maybe captain obvious, but I just want to say it and underscore it. What we’re talking about is one of the most important operations to him, personally, in his administration, and that is sending ICE out into these communities to try to take people, and you know, kick them out of the country who are in the United States illegally. So of course, he is going to — from his point of view, clearly defend ICE, even though you showed him the video.

Listen to what Kristi Noem and what J.D. Vance said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: ICE agents repeatedly ordered her to get out of the car and to stop instructing — obstructing law enforcement, but she refused to obey their commands.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I’m not happy that this woman was there at a protest violating the law by interfering with a law enforcement action. Ramming an ICE officer with your car. That’s what justifies being shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Normally in a situation like this on Inside Politics, we would then say what Democrats are saying in response. There was another person who really caught our attention, and that is Stephen Colbert. You know, late night hosts now maybe got a lot of flack from the White House, but historically, they have been — people who really condense and capture the feeling in society at any given moment. Listen to Stephen Colbert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, “THE LATE SHOW”: The message from this administration is clear. Only they determine the truth, and when their forces come to your city, obey or die. And if you die, you clearly didn’t obey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Go ahead.

ASTEAD HERNDON, HOST AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, VOX: Yeah. I mean, I think that Colbert sums up what is a public sentiment. I mean, when we hear DHS Secretary Kristi Noem kind of make those statements, I think it implies that non-compliance is a reason for death. And I don’t think that that’s true — and that’s not true for ICE, it’s not true for DHS officials. That’s not true in policy, and that’s not true morally, you know.

And I think that what people see is an opportunity for that officer to make different decisions that led to this outcome. I mean, this also doesn’t just stop with these statements. Remember, Noem said that initially that they was — there was a snow attack, and they were trying to — that the ICE officers were compounded by the weather conditions. There was other statements, even with Vice President Vance, is there saying, that they rammed into the officer. That’s not really clearly what the video shows.

I mean, I think that this is a form of kind of top-down narrative setting that this White House has become very used to.

BASH: Exactly.

HERNDON: But on certain issues, it really backfires on them, because I think the public can make up for their own minds. And also, I think Donald Trump is losing his narrative setting power. And so, like, I think he’s used to kind of the 30, 40 percent of the country who always seemingly agree with him. But even though that’s true in a Washington context, maybe the red and blue have gone to their partisan corners.

I’m not sure that’s going to be true in a public sentiment context. This was clear. And the video makes that clear, and the statements from the officials after it, I think, speaks to their willingness to tell the American public basically anything. And from my opinion like, if they’re willing to say untruths about a video that we see, it begs the question of their credibility of things that we don’t see.

Watch above via CNN’s Inside Politics.