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Democratic Nationwide Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin is getting hammered by Republicans for evaluating america beneath President Donald Trump to Iran’s Islamic theocracy, accusing each of exhibiting “authoritarian conduct.”
The feedback from Martin got here amid protests in Minneapolis and throughout the nation within the wake of final week’s deadly taking pictures of a 37-year-old Minnesota lady and mom of three by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, and within the midst of a wave of large demonstrations in opposition to Iran’s cleric-controlled authorities in latest weeks.
Pointing to Martin’s lauding of protesters in each nations for “rising up in opposition to techniques that wield violence with out accountability,” a spokesperson for the rival Republican Nationwide Committee (RNC) argued on Friday that Martin is “unhinged.”
However Martin’s feedback appear to take a seat simply tremendous with many Democrats, with a supply on the DNC telling Fox Information Digital “everyone seems to be supporting the overall gist of what he’s saying.”
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Democratic Nationwide Committee chair Ken Martin oversees the opening session of the DNC’s summer time assembly, on Aug. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox Information )
The DNC chair, a former longtime Minnesota state celebration chair, first made the comparability in a social media submit final Sunday.
“From Tehran to my birthplace of Minneapolis, persons are rising up in opposition to techniques that wield violence with out accountability. In Iran, courageous protestors confront a far-right theocratic regime that crushes dissent and denies fundamental freedoms,” Martin wrote.
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He added, “Right here at residence, tens of hundreds are marching after the deadly ICE taking pictures of Renee Good — demanding justice, transparency, and an finish to an unchecked federal drive that takes lives and tears households aside. Solidarity throughout borders means opposing authoritarian energy all over the place and defending the best to reside free from worry and state violence.”
An ICE agent shot and killed Good final week throughout a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officers have stated brokers have been making an attempt to make arrests when the girl tried to make use of her car as a weapon in opposition to officers, prompting an ICE agent to fireside in self-defense.
Members of legislation enforcement work the scene following a suspected taking pictures by an ICE agent throughout federal operations on Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Photos)
High Democrats, together with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the declare that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge within the state is “illegal” and “unprecedented.”
Good’s demise sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis, the place hundreds of ICE brokers are actually dispatched, and throughout the nation, with demonstrators calling for modifications to federal immigration enforcement.
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Trump on Thursday warned that if Minnesota’s political leaders do not cease what he argued have been “skilled agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who’re solely attempting to do their job, I’ll institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have performed earlier than me, and shortly put an finish to the travesty that’s going down.”
Folks march throughout a protest after the deadly taking pictures of Renee Good by an ICE agent, on Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Getty Photos)
The conservative-leaning Wall Avenue Journal editorial board, in an opinion piece, criticized Martin.
“Overwrought rhetoric on home affairs is one factor. Yoking a false picture of U.S. authoritarianism to the liberty battle in Iran is morally obtuse. It’s a slur in opposition to his personal nation,” the board wrote in an opinion piece. “It additionally undermines the Iranian folks, who depend on the U.S. and name desperately for its assist, to say that America is one more murderous tyranny, akin to their very own. Mr. Martin basically advised Iranians that the U.S. is on the aspect of their regime.”
After Martin’s comparability sparked fiery backlash on social media, he doubled down.
“If evaluating the U.S. to Iran makes you indignant, ask why. Killing protesters. Crushing dissent. Kidnapping and disappearing authorized residents. Ignoring courts. Threatening critics. Terrorizing communities. That’s authoritarian conduct—wherever. When you’re speeding to defend it, perhaps the issue isn’t the comparability. Trump retains pushing it, Individuals aren’t shopping for it, and Minneapolis gained’t be silent,” Martin stated in a further submit on X.
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On this body seize from video obtained by the AP exterior Iran, a masked demonstrator holds an image of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi throughout a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC by way of AP)
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a high Trump ally within the Senate and a longtime proponent of a muscular U.S. overseas coverage, bashed Martin.
“Primary, Ken Martin is a nugatory piece of crap,” Graham charged in an look on Fox Information’ “Hannity.” “Are you able to think about this man preventing for freedom? To match President Trump and the Trump regime to the ayatollah means you bought the worst case of Trump derangement syndrome on the planet. Go to hell.”
The DNC chair, reacting to Graham’s assault, claimed the senator is “a sniveling coward and a Trump bootlicker who hasn’t had a strongly held conviction in many years. I’ll put on his condemnation as a badge of honor.”
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And in an MS NOW interview earlier this week, Martin argued that “persons are very involved that fundamental rights and human rights on this nation are being violated by its personal authorities … that is now who we needs to be as America, however it’s sadly who we have develop into beneath this administration.”
However RNC nationwide press secretary Kiersten Pels claimed Friday in an announcement to Fox Information Digital that “it is a determined ploy from a person who drove the DNC into monetary wreck and political irrelevancy. Ken Martin is so unhinged that he’s evaluating Tehran to Minneapolis and inspiring violent obstruction of federal legislation enforcement.”
Democrats are energized, thanks largely to their pushback in opposition to Trump and his sweeping and unprecedented strikes in his first yr again within the White Home. And Martin’s controversial feedback look like getting a thumbs up from his personal celebration.
“I believe everyone seems to be giving Ken a move as a result of he’s from Minnesota and Minnesota has not been capable of catch a break not too long ago,” a DNC committee member who requested to stay nameless to talk extra freely advised Fox Information Digital. “So that is very uncooked, very private, and really hurtful for him.”
Requested about Martin’s comparability, DNC committee member and longtime Democratic strategist Maria Cardona advised Fox Information Digital, “Right here’s what the Wall Avenue Journal will get unsuitable.”
“Ken Martin is just not evaluating Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s America,” Cardona emphasised. “He’s evaluating Iran’s autocracy to Trump’s autocracy, particularly absolutely the immunity Trump has given these lawless ICE brokers, their lack of coaching, their being employed with out background checks, and the $50,000 bonuses that assure that these ICE brokers on the market have little interest in and do not know the way to comply with the legislation and the way to correctly and lawfully monitor down violent felony undocumented immigrants.”
And veteran Democratic guide Joe Caiazzo, requested about Martin’s feedback, charged that “from the rhetoric deployed to insurance policies enacted, and govt orders issued, it’s clear Donald Trump would like to be a dictator.”
The trio of nationwide polls launched this week indicated {that a} majority of Individuals give a thumbs right down to how ICE is finishing up Trump’s push for the mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants. However there is a large partisan divide, with Republicans supportive of ICE and the president.
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Cardona emphasised that “Trump and ICE are shedding public opinion over this, as a majority of Individuals know that this could not occur in america of America.”
And Martin, in his look on MS NOW, argued that “if Donald Trump thinks what he is doing in Minneapolis goes to enhance his ballot numbers, I believe he has one other factor coming.”
In the meantime, in Iran, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists Information Company experiences not less than 2,677 folks have been killed within the protests. Different experiences say the demise toll is over 3,000, with the true quantity prone to be considerably increased.
The protests in opposition to Iran’s dire financial circumstances, which have quickly escalated in latest days, are seen as a number of the most violent for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution that put in the present system of clerical rule.
