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Kyle Kulinski
ICE is terrorizing people in the streets. The majority of the American public does not approve of ice, does not approve of their actions. It is very clear that the administration is using ICE as Donald Trump's personal goon squad. You might Remember in Trump 1.0, he spoke to people in his administration about admiration for the way Hitler's generals behaved. And we have a lot of American citizens, even children with cancer, in ICE custody. And so I imagine that the Democratic front runner for President in 2028 has a very sense of moral clarity about this issue. I would imagine that he is going to go full tilt on ICE and meet the American public where they are. Let's hear what Gavin Newsom has to.
Gavin Newsom
Say about ICE was a narrative that was immediately pushed by the Trump administration and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, that she was a domestic terrorist who was attempting to run over officers with her car and was legitimately trying not, not just this officer, but multiple officers. That was the original statement. I said at the time I thought that was untrue. And then your press office tweeted out that it was state sponsored terrorism, which, I mean, Governor, I do have to ask you about that. That sort of thing makes our politics worse.
Kyle Kulinski
Yeah.
Gavin Newsom
I mean, it does. And our, Our, our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists.
Kyle Kulinski
Yeah.
Gavin Newsom
A tragic situation is not state sponsored terrorism.
Kyle Kulinski
Yeah, I think that's fair. Okay. It is state sponsored terrorism. It. It. Him saying, Ben Shapiro saying that makes our politics worse. What makes our politics worse is that an ICE agent shot a woman that didn't need to be shot. And then the United States government called this woman with her black lab in the back seat of her car a terrorist. And Gavin Newsome plays Patty Cake with Ben Shapiro. Who is this for? Who is this for? Gavin? Are you trying to get. You always talk about, I have Republicans in my family. Are you trying to get those people to respect you? Because what you're doing is taking a grenade and any chance that you had to really solidify the base and go, God, this guy's a fighter. Because your press office is right. Your press office fights this administration tooth and nail. And those tweets are popular because people feel like, thank God somebody's fighting for us. Your press office didn't gaslight us the way Ben Shapiro and then your acquiescence to him just did. When your press office said that Kristi Noem is a domestic terrorist, she is. What ICE is doing in Minnesota is horrific and it is state sponsored terrorism. And start saying it. This isn't a left position. Everybody across the United States of America sees this. This is the don't tread on me. This is the that Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro and all these other pink arm ot right wing media podcasters were screaming about we can't have a large federal government that is eroding civil liberties in the streets. And it just amazes me that we want to sit down and play patty cake with Ben Shapiro, who nobody likes, his voice is fingernails on a chalkboard and allow him to dog walk you on something. The problem isn't you calling a spade a spade. That's the solution. The problem is the United States government killed an innocent mom of three and then the ICE agent called her a and turned around and walked off. And now they're investigating the dead woman, the murdered woman and her wife as domestic terrorists. If you can't have moral clarity on this, you cannot lead a resistance and opposition, nor can you lead this country. Because it seems like when push comes to shove, Gavin, when it comes to taxing billionaires, which is a very popular position among the American electorate, you're on the side of the billionaires. It seems like when it comes to calling out the execution and the murder of an American citizen of Trump's goomb squad, you sit there and provide daylight with Ben Shapiro. I'm sorry, but this is not. I know that you've been running and I used to really appreciate back in the day when you were San Francisco mayor, your moral clarity about LGBTQ plus stuff. And I understand that in politics you can be super progressive and then you get elected and you might have to compromise on things. Things. ICE is not it. Taxing billionaires is not it. So this is just completely disappointing, especially when I wake up this morning, Gavin Newsom, and read this headline right here. Pop this up. Washington Post is reporting breaking news. An employee of El Paso County's Office of the Medical examiner said it is likely to classify the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at an ICE detention center. A homicide. A detainee says he witnessed Campos being choked to death by guards. So we have a homicide at an ICE facility and you're going to let Ben Shapiro dog walk you about this stuff? This ICE is not law enforcement. This is Trump's terror squad. This is his goon squad. These are the people in Trump 1.0. You may remember, he asked Secretary of Defense Esper, can I. Can you shoot the protesters in the Lex so that they'll leave the park in front of the White House? And he said, no, it doesn't work that way. Now he has ice. ICE will do that. They're shooting pepper balls and pepper spray and with bullets to Renee. Good. They are actually shooting people. So to not have moral clarity on this, to me is completely disqualifying, a hundred percent disqualifying. As politicians in this fascist regime, in this critical time in human history, I'm looking for evolution, maybe people. A politician is going to arise, like Chris Murphy, a United States senator who I've had on the podcast, who has evolved about corporate PAC money. He's evolved about Democrats being beholden to corporations. And he says it. I've, I've really evolved on this issue. Gavin Newsom, you're devolving. You're not evolving. And so I think the electorate. We're not looking for a perfect candidate. We're looking. Do I agree with this person in seven out of ten things, Gavin, you're making it to where we're only going to agree with you about 2 out of 10 things. And so if you can't fight for the American people, if you can't fight for the working class, if you cannot fight for Minnesotans, for Americans that are getting terrorized, for a person that's getting choked in ICE custody and now it's ruled a homicide, and you'd rather have the optics of your neon sign. This is Gavin Newsom. This is Gavin Newsom getting dog walked by Ben Shapiro. Hit the bricks. Like, I, I don't want that. I want somebody who can win, but more than anything, I want somebody who stands on principle, stands up to these guys. Maybe get advice from your account, the people, your press office, maybe ask them to be your advisors, because whoever advised you to do this, or if this is just who you are, it's disqualifying, in my opinion. Moving along, y' all may remember I had that viral tweet where I call out triple Trumpers that want to go to a Mexican restaurant and enjoy Mexican food, but then they go and vote for Trump. Right? Fox News browbeat me for it. You know, it's just, it went uber, uber viral. Told them to get their fat asses out of the Mexican restaurant and go eat a cracker barrel. Y' all probably remember it. Well, sometimes these things kind of come true. Pop this up, Kylie. ICE agents eat at a small town Mexican restaurant, then arrest workers. Federal agents detained three workers from a family owned Mexican restaurant in Wilmar yesterday, hours after four agents ate lunch there. And so this is exactly the hypocrisy that Gavin Newsom just displayed on his podcast. This is the hypocrisy that all of these triple Trumpers display all, all of the time. They want to go enjoy multiculturalism and then they also want to be racist pricks and they have a really hard time reconciling all of that. And I have a very simple message. The United States of America is a multi faith, multicultural nation. We were taught from a very young age that we are a melting pot. And the majority of us, Gavin Newsom, the majority of us, stand with all of the people being terrorized by ICE, 30% of the Americans, one third. And I guess that's why you have Ben Shapiro on your podcast, because you're trying to peel off some of those people. I don't know. I don't know what the logic is on that. It's unhelpful and it's hurtful. It's a, it's an ultimate betrayal when people believe in their politician to fight for them, to fight for human rights, to fight against corporate greed. And then you see these people. Now, can you sit down and talk to people from the right? Yes. And I know that there are clips in that podcast where you stood against, like the red state crime versus blue state crime. And some of those conversations are really productive, I give you that. But to allow Ben Shapiro to dog walk you on that, to me is the most disqualifying clip I've ever seen. Moving along here is a tweet about ice and the position needs to be that ICE needs to be abolished and dismantled. Aaron Rugenberg tweets, Mussolini had his black shirts, Hitler had his ss, and Trump has ice, an army of ideologically motivated chuds whose new members owe their employment not to the state being largely unqualified for legitimate positions, but rather to Trump's personal patronage. So I just want to remind everybody, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from now, when all of this is written about in the history books, those of us who have moral clarity right now and say ICE needs to be abolished, this will be regarded as people being on the right side of history. In the same way, if people in early 1930s Germany were saying the Gestapo must be abolished. This is not a wild leftist progressive position. This is a moderate, a moderate American position.
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Kyle Kulinski
Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with Superpower. Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code IHIP. Head to superpower.com and use code IHIP at checkout for $20 off your membership. After you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them, so make sure to mention this podcast to support our show. And then the last clip I want to play for you is of Tom Homan. Tom Homan is having a problem with ICE right now because the polling and I guess nobody gave Gavin Newsome the polling on ice. The polling with the American public is that this THUD squad, this goon squad, this domestic terrorist organization, people don't like it, Independents don't like it, even Repub. A lot of Republicans don't like it. Democrats hate the out of it play this club. Tom, are you concerned about the CNN and Quinnipiac polls that showed declining public support for ICE and President Trump's approach to immigration enforcement? Do you think those are accurate? Are they being egged on by the press?
Tom Homan
I think they're being egged on by the press. I think there's a lot of false media out there and I think we need to be better at messaging what we're doing. Look, bottom line is 70% of everybody wrestles a criminal. We need to start advertising that every single day and putting their pictures all over social media. And, you know, the bottom line is if people listen to most of the media, not this network, they're going to hear that ICE is separating families every day. We're deporting us citize. We're doing operations in elementary schools and churches and hospitals. We just got pushed back to life because I think a lot of people don't get the facts and we got to be better at getting the fast.
Kyle Kulinski
Okay, you know what this reminded me of when I heard it? It reminded me of when Benjamin Netanyahu was sitting down with all of the American influencers saying we need to control TikTok. Like they were having. Israel has a hard time spinning genocide, but they think, oh, if we just control the propaganda, then it will be okay, and the same actions are going to be taken by ice. They just want to control the algorithms, which they already do. But they just want to suppress the murders, the homicides in El Paso, the putting pepper balls in in peaceful protesters faces. And even if they're not peaceful and they're saying hey you ice and they're standing there just like this. You don't deserve to have pepper balls thrown in your face. If you want to be an ICE agen, you better be ready for smack talk. If you want to be President of the United States, you better be ready for smack talk. But consistently and constantly. These people are thin skinned, low te, emotionally stunted individuals. And the through line here with the Israeli government, not the Jewish people, but the Israeli government and the United States government is their policies are so inhumane and so unjustified that the only solution they can come up with is suppressing the truth and increasing the propaganda. That's all they have. So for Gavin Newsom to participate in this, I want to play patty cake with fascists and get dog walked by Ben Shapiro. I have to say this, you guys, nobody is coming to save us but us. And our turnout for these midterms, it is going to have to be a grassroots effort. I'm going to tell 10 people, make sure they're all registered to vote. Those 10 people tell 10 people and we go out en masse and it is too big to rig and we go out not obeying in advance. There could be military in the streets, there could be ICE agents in the streets, it could be dangerous. But we have to go hand in hand and fight for our democracy and fight for our fellow Americans. People that are here that are getting terrorized by the Kristi Gnomes, the Stephen Millers and the Tom Homans of the world. And we have to send a message not only to all of these fascists but also to the Democrats who allow themselves to get dog walked by fascists. And acquiescence to this that we aren't going to stand for it. We are a country of 250 years. Imperfect we may be, but we believe in human rights and we believe in social justice unconditionally. All right, that's all we have for today. Please subscribe like comment. I'll be back later with more news.
Episode: Gavin Newsom Walks Back His Attack on ICE While New Reports of Murders Surface?
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie “Pumps” Sullivan
Air Date: January 16, 2026
In this charged episode of IHIP News, progressive hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan (featuring Kyle Kulinski) tackle California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent shift in rhetoric regarding ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and discuss new revelations about deaths in ICE custody. The conversation pulls no punches, criticizing Newsom’s attempts at political moderation, especially in light of alleged ICE abuses and the broader political climate. The hosts also offer fierce commentary on what moral clarity means for Democrats today, drawing historical parallels and highlighting the stakes of the current political moment.
“If you can’t have moral clarity on this, you cannot lead a resistance and opposition, nor can you lead this country.”
“This is Trump’s terror squad. This is his goon squad... They are actually shooting people.”
“Mussolini had his black shirts, Hitler had his SS, and Trump has ICE, an army of ideologically motivated chuds...”
“I think they’re being egged on by the press... We need to be better at messaging what we’re doing.”
“The only solution they can come up with is suppressing the truth and increasing the propaganda. That’s all they have.”
“Nobody is coming to save us but us... We have to go hand in hand and fight for our democracy and fight for our fellow Americans... We believe in human rights and we believe in social justice unconditionally.”
This episode stands as a blistering critique of political equivocation in the face of state violence, urging Democrats (and particularly Gavin Newsom) to reclaim a boldly moral, pro-human rights platform. The hosts contextualize ICE’s actions within alarming historical and contemporary trends, making an urgent case for abolition and organizing. The episode closes with a determined plea for grassroots activism—the hosts argue that only the people, not politicians, can enact the change that is desperately needed.