Glenn Greenwald GOES OFF: Matt Walsh, ICE Face Scanning Protestors

An ICE agent in Portland, Maine, was recorded telling a protester she was being added to a 'nice little database' and was considered a 'domestic terrorist.' Glenn Greenwald asserts this is not an isolated incident but part of a concerted effort by the Trump administration, ICE, and Homeland Security to expand domestic surveillance and label dissent as terrorism.

Video of an ICE agent in Portland, Maine, stating, 'Now you're considered domestic terrorist. So, we're videotaping you.' (0:59) Greenwald's analysis of statements from Steven Miller and Christine Gnome labeling citizens as domestic terrorists (1:57).

Historically, the US security state was constrained by the rule that its powers could not be turned inward on American citizens. Greenwald explains that this 'great taboo' was violated after 9/11, leading to the growth of domestic surveillance without democratic accountability or transparency. Both parties have since failed to enact legislative reforms, allowing this expansion to continue.

Snowden's revelations about the NSA's domestic surveillance programs (3:50). Greenwald's point that 'the one rule that was supposed to constrain it... was that whatever it is you're doing can't be turned inward' (4:14).

Greenwald highlights the profound hypocrisy of the American right, which historically championed anti-federal government sentiments and the Second Amendment as a check against state tyranny. Now, figures like Matt Walsh, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Cash Patel condemn armed protesters and support aggressive federal actions, even labeling legal gun ownership at protests as suspicious. This shift demonstrates a partisan abandonment of principles when their 'side' is in power.

Matt Walsh's tweet condemning an 'armed leftist' interfering with law enforcement (10:10). Greenwald's reference to Charlie Kirk's tweet on the Second Amendment's purpose (11:51). The shift from 1990s anti-federal government sentiment (5:21) to current support for federal agents (5:15).

The use of masked federal agents operating in public spaces, refusing to be identified, is a dangerous practice that removes a critical layer of accountability. Greenwald argues that this practice, especially when federal agencies refuse to allow state and local investigations into their actions, is characteristic of a dystopian state and should be opposed by all ideologies.

Greenwald's argument that masked agents take away a major part of accountability, especially when the federal government refuses to allow states and cities to investigate crimes by them (16:12).