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The Normies Have Been Engaged -- Digby
https://digbysblog.net/2026/01/29/the-normies-have-been-engaged/
At the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, allegedly progressive Hollywood barely mentioned the Immigration and Customs Enforcement siege taking place in Minneapolis. Most didn't gesture to the Trump administration's war on free speech, particularly in the media. (In fairness, there were some who spoke out on the red carpet, and others wore pins indicating their support for Renee Good, who had been killed four days before by an ICE agent, but it was a very small contingent.)
The reluctance shouldn't have been too surprising. America's elite institutions and wealthy individuals have been among the most cowardly of all stakeholders in the country since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. Still, of all of them, Hollywood should have been out there saying something. The film industry has experience with blacklists and government witch hunts, and they should have realized what's at stake -- and how much they could stand to lose.
But Saturday's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care unit nurse at a local Veterans Affairs hospital, by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis seems to have broken the entertainment industry out of its stupor. In the last few days there have been numerous statements from actors and musicians condemning ICE's actions and demanding that the Trump administration end its mass deportation campaign and hold the perpetrators accountable. Reddit forums like FauxMoi are featuring anti-ICE statements from celebrities over the past few days -- including Glenn Close, Billie Eilish, Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman, Katy Perry, Edward Norton and many others -- while also posting videos and commentary usually confined to political sites.
. . .
Average Americans are seeing that Trump is more and more out of touch, and they're recognizing, as that Trump voter has, that his administration is more and more out of hand. They likely wouldn't be seeing it now if not for the influencers and others who are using their platforms to share their outrage in online communities where politics isn't usually discussed. For all its toxicity -- and it is profoundly toxic -- in this instance, social media actually did some good.
. . .
The reluctance shouldn't have been too surprising. America's elite institutions and wealthy individuals have been among the most cowardly of all stakeholders in the country since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. Still, of all of them, Hollywood should have been out there saying something. The film industry has experience with blacklists and government witch hunts, and they should have realized what's at stake -- and how much they could stand to lose.
But Saturday's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care unit nurse at a local Veterans Affairs hospital, by Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis seems to have broken the entertainment industry out of its stupor. In the last few days there have been numerous statements from actors and musicians condemning ICE's actions and demanding that the Trump administration end its mass deportation campaign and hold the perpetrators accountable. Reddit forums like FauxMoi are featuring anti-ICE statements from celebrities over the past few days -- including Glenn Close, Billie Eilish, Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman, Katy Perry, Edward Norton and many others -- while also posting videos and commentary usually confined to political sites.
. . .
Average Americans are seeing that Trump is more and more out of touch, and they're recognizing, as that Trump voter has, that his administration is more and more out of hand. They likely wouldn't be seeing it now if not for the influencers and others who are using their platforms to share their outrage in online communities where politics isn't usually discussed. For all its toxicity -- and it is profoundly toxic -- in this instance, social media actually did some good.
. . .