Fox News Called Out for Claim That 'Passions Are Running High' After Report of Trump Supporters Clashing With Police

In the summer of 2020, the United States saw millions of Americans protest the murders of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black Americans by police.

While these protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, Republican politicians and far-right news outlets focused on isolated incidents of violence—at least some of which was committed by right wing activists—to paint these protests as riots.

Outgoing President Donald Trump frequently characterized protestors as looters, and appeared to call for violence against them with a tweet warning "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."

The conservative Fox News network repeatedly amplified the false characterization of these protests, with far-right hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity frequently lobbing racist attacks at protestors, while the news side of the network largely overemphasized the so-called chaos in American cities.

Now, Trump supporters are descending on Washington, D.C. ahead of the joint session of Congress to certify the national election results. The session will be overseen by Vice President Mike Pence, and Trump's supporters are erroneously hoping he'll wield power he doesn't have and throw out election results in multiple swing states.

On Tuesday night, Trump supporters clashed with police as they tried to infiltrate a line of officers.

Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts appeared on Fox News after a mention of the clashes with police.

Lis Power of Media Matters for America accused Roberts of bias for saying that "passions" were "running high on both sides," though it's unclear if he was describing the protests or the passions of lawmakers ahead of the joint session.

Regardless, people are still noting the hypocrisy of the "law and order" Trump supporters clashing with the police.

The Trump administration infamously deployed federal law enforcement across the country and ordered them to tear gas peaceful protesters outside the White House so the President could take a photo with a bible.

People noticed these Trump supporters were getting much different treatment even while expressing aggression toward the police.