Daily Wire host instructs his audience how to think of Trump's deportation targets: “We need prejudice”

Michael Knowles: “Now what Trump is demonstrating there is called prejudice. ... Your gut is usually right. And stereotypes are all true.”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the January 28, 2025, edition of The Daily Wire's The Michael Knowles Show

MICHAEL KNOWLES (HOST): Because what the left wants you to do is, when you think about the people being deported, they want you to think about doe-eyed little kids being deported or innocent old grannies trying to make some paella. That is not who's being deported. Full stop.

There is an argument to deport anyone who is in this country illegally, but that's not who Trump is deporting. He is deporting rapists, murderers, human traffickers, drug dealers, psycho, actual Satan-worshiping face tattooed gangsters. So the face tattoo part is really important because it paints an image for people. It means when they hear deportation, they're gonna think about this crazy MS-13 guy who, like, rapes teenagers, OK, and, like, beheads people. That's what you're gonna think of. If the Democrats control the language and control the narrative, you hear deportation, you're gonna think of a sweet little doe-eyed five-year-old dreamer. But that's not it. That image actually does not reflect reality. The image that is evocative that also reflects reality is the face-tattooed guys.

Now what Trump is demonstrating there is called prejudice. Prejudice, which can be a bad thing, I guess, if it's unjust, but prejudice is not necessarily a bad thing. Prejudice is just a pre-judgment. This is a basic conservative insight. We need prejudice. You use prejudice all day long. You don't rationally consider and write fifty-page long treatises on every decision you make. You just kinda do it. Why do you reach for the Cheerios instead of the Raisin Bran? I don't know. You just kinda like Cheerios more. It's just a prejudice. You don't think about all the ingredients and the amount of riboflavin and vitamin b and eat — you just do it. You just go on your gut. OK? And your gut is usually right. That the part the libs don't wanna tell you. Your gut is usually right. And stereotypes are all true. Doesn't mean that they apply to every individual within certain categories, but stereotypes are stereotypes because they are generally true. And a guy with a face tattoo and a mean-looking mug who doesn't speak English and has weird gang signs on him, he is not going to be the head of your local bank, and you should probably get him out of your country.

Meanwhile, government data suggests that many ICE arrests “appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally”: 

Data first obtained by NBC News shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a total of 1,179 people on Sunday, which is more than the 956 arrests that the agency posted on X on Sunday night. But just 613 of those total arrests — nearly 52% — were considered “criminal arrests.” The rest appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally.

When breaking down those arrests, eight were considered “Worst Criminals Arrested,” including two gang members, according to the official.

Still, at least 566 people arrested Sunday had not committed any crimes and were only detained because they lacked legal authorization to remain in the United States.