The Prime of Tough-Guy Progressivism
Byron York
On Saturday, Larry Krasner, the elected Democratic district attorney of Philadelphia, posted a photo of himself on social media. It was a black-and-white picture of a stern-looking Krasner in a dark suit, one hand to his sunglasses. At the bottom of the photo, in all caps, was "FAFO," which of course stands for "f*** around and find out." The accompanying message said, "To [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the National Guard: if you commit crimes in Philadelphia, we will charge you and hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
Made in the context of the Minneapolis shooting, the post was part of a new wave of tough-guy progressivism in which state and local Democratic officials around the country apparently hope to intimidate the federal government over the enforcement of federal immigration law. "Get the f*** out of Minneapolis," said the city's Democratic mayor, Jacob Frey, addressing his comments to ICE. Back in Philadelphia, Krasner's Democratic colleague, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, used street slang to threaten ICE: "If any of them want to come in this city and commit a crime, you will not be able to hide. ... You don't want this smoke, 'cause we will bring it to you."
Tough-guy anti-ICE talk is, of course, rampant on social media. A search by Grok finds that 100 to 200 X accounts use "F*** ICE" or some variant in their username or bio. Some have it superimposed on their photos. As for social media content, Grok said that "F*** ICE" appears on the site "thousands of times at minimum across X's history, and very likely tens of thousands when including all capitalizations and slight variations."
That kind of thing is to be expected. You can find somebody saying f*** anything on social media. What is more interesting, and more concerning, is that the belligerence displayed by some in positions of authority has trickled down to street protesters. There, raw anger and combativeness toward law enforcement can have very serious consequences.
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https://townhall.com/columnists/byronyork/2026/01/14/the-prime-of-tough-guy-progressivism-n2669447
