Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross accused Vice President JD Vance of openly selling racism to his MAGA base after he referred Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) as “Jose.”

Cross, a political analyst at SiriusXM and Daily Beast contributor, joined guest host Charles Coleman Jr. and fellow guest Jennifer Rubin on MSNBC on Saturday where she claimed Vance’s “Jose” dig should surprise no one because there is “a large percentage of the American public who would like to blame anything and everything that has ever gone wrong in their lives on a Black or Brown person.”

During a trip to Los Angeles this week, Vance called Padilla “Jose” — there is a Jose Padilla who is a convicted terrorist — while mocking the senator over a recent immigration-related press conference he interrupted, leading to him being brought to the ground and handcuffed by Secret Service and FBI agents.

“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question. But unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater. And that’s all it is, you know. I think everybody realizes that’s what this is, it’s pure political theater,” Vance told reporters.

He later doubled down on the dig through a spokesperson’s statement to CNN explaining, “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.”

Cross argued President Donald Trump ran on “racism and xenophobia” because that’s what appeals to his base and Vance is following in the same footsteps.

“Trump ran on racism and xenophobia. We’ve seen it time and time again. Just yesterday, he made up a name for Congressman Padilla, for Senator Padilla,” she said. “I think that what we have to recognize with this guy is that there is an understanding that racism sells. And that his base tends to love it. And that there unfortunately a large percentage of the American public who would like to blame anything and everything that has ever gone wrong in their lives on a Black or Brown person, easy scapegoats.”

Cross continued, “That has not brought down the price of eggs. It has not allowed for more housing affordability. It has stopped the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ in which Donald Trump is arguing to slash Medicaid funding and access, which deeply hurts the very voters that he has cordoned over the past few years, since 2016. In addition to that, he is moving to wipe away entitlement programs. We’re talking about your social security. We’re taking about these programs that help people to retire. We’re talk about disability benefits.”

Padilla himself responded to Vance’s comments during a Saturday morning appearance on MSNBC’s The Weekend.

“He knows my name,” Padilla said about Vance. “Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is.”

Padilla added about the mixing up “criminals” dig from Vance, “I didn’t break any laws.”

Watch above via MSNBC.

MSNBC’s Eugene Daniels put Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) on the spot by plainly asking whether Vice President JD Vance was being “racist” when he referred to Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) as “Jose.”

During a trip to Los Angeles this week, Vance referred to Padilla as “Jose” while speaking to reporters. He later doubled down on the crack through a spokesperson’s statement to CNN, explaining, “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” There is an actual Jose Padilla who is a convicted terrorist.

On MSNBC’s The Weekend, Bass called Vance’s trip to Los Angeles a “disrespectful” photo op, accusing him of painting a false chaotic picture of the city due to recent anti-ICE protests, which led to a curfew for a limited area that has since been lifted.

Daniels said during the interview that “Black and Brown communities being misnamed” often has underlying racist notes.

“The conversation around this that people are having online, folks that I talked to, even just in the last, you know, hours since it happened, is that it’s racist. Do you think that JD Vance was being racist to Alex Padilla?” he asked.

Bass did not outright say Vance was racist, but argued he definitely knows the senator’s name and she can think of no reasonable explanation for why he would have gotten it wrong.

“Well, let me just tell you that I know that he is aware of the senator’s name and there was no reason for him to do that at all just like there was no reason for him to accuse me and the governor of actually contributing to the problem we had,” she said.

Vance’s comment came while he was accusing Padilla of putting on political “theater” during a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem where he was manhandled and put in handcuffs by Secret Service and FBI agents after interrupting Noem.

Bass went on to accuse the current administration of deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles to deal with protests as an “experiment” in “seizing power.”

“We had a couple of days of vandalism. We were able to control the situation. The National Guard was never needed here. This has all been a political stunt, but I also think it’s been a test,” she said. “It’s been a test to see how much will the American public put up with a president and an administration that comes in and seizes power from a governor, something that was completely unnecessary in our city.”

Padilla also appeared on The Weekend where he rebuked Vance over him referring to the senator as “Jose.”

“He knows my name. Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is,” he said.

Check out the exchange below:

EUGENE DANIELS: Mayor Bass, you know, in black and brown communities being misnamed often has some underlying tendencies. And, and, you know, the conversation around this that people are having online, folks that I talked to, even just in the last, you know, hours since it happened, is that it’s racist. Do you think that JD Vance was being racist to Alex Padilla? KAREN BASS: Well, let me just tell you that I know that he is aware of the senator’s name and there was no reason for him to do that at all just like there was no reason for him to accuse me and the governor of actually contributing to the problem. We had a couple of days of vandalism. We were able to control the situation. The National Guard was never needed here. This has all been a political stunt, but I also think it’s been a test. It’s been a test to see how much will the American public put up with a president and an administration that comes in and seizes power from a governor, something that was completely unnecessary in our city.

Watch above via MSNBC.

Washington — During a visit with federal law enforcement in Los Angeles on Friday, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration still believes a military deployment to the city is necessary.

Vance is the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit the Los Angeles area since protests broke out in the nation’s second-largest city over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. He gave brief remarks after touring a multi-agency Federal Joint Operations Center and a federal mobile command center, and meeting with leadership and Marines on the ground.

President Trump federalized thousands of troops from the California National Guard in response to the Los Angeles-area protests and ordered about 700 Marines to be deployed to protect federal property. The president has directed federal immigration authorities to prioritize deporting individuals from Democratic-run cities, including Los Angeles, and a series of ICE operations in L.A. sparked the protests earlier this month.

The deployments drew a lawsuit from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who argued the presence of military forces could inflame the situation. Late Thursday, a federal appeals court allowed the president to keep control of the National Guard troops he deployed to the Los Angeles region, halting a ruling from a lower court judge who said the president acted illegally when he activated the troops over objections from Newsom. The protests have waned, but the troops remain.

In remarks to reporters on Friday, Vance said the situation has “gotten a lot better,” but the Marines and National Guard forces are still “very much a necessary part of what’s going on here,” arguing the protests could “flare back up.”

The vice president also alleged that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had “egged on” violence during the protests. The administration has accused state and local officials of failing to protect federal immigration agents from threats and interference from protesters. Local authorities have pushed back, arguing federal authorities are responsible for the chaos.

“I would absolutely say that Gavin Newsom is endangering law enforcement,” Vance said.

Vance suggested the administration is willing to use the Guard in other places, but that it hopes not to.

“If you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we’re not going to send in the National Guard because it’s unnecessary,” the vice president said.

In a news conference Friday night, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said Vance was “spewing lies and utter nonsense in an attempt to promote division and conflict in our city.”

Vance calls Sen. Alex Padilla “José Padilla”

At one point, Vance referred to Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, as “José Padilla.”

“I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater,” Vance said.

The senator made news last week after he was forcibly removed from a press conference hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, an incident Vance called “pure political theater.”

“Mr. vice president, how dare you disrespect our senator?” Bass said in her news conference. “You don’t know his name? But yet you served with him before you were vice president, and you continue to serve with him today. Because last time I checked, the vice president of the United States is the president of the Senate. You serve with him today, but how dare you disrespect him and call him José. But I guess he just looked like anybody to you.”

Newsom said Friday in a post on X that mixing up Padilla’s name was “not an accident,” noting that Vance and Padilla served in the Senate together.

“It was very generous of the Vice President to take time out of his closed-door fundraiser to stage a photo op in front of a fire truck — where he ‘mistakenly’ called a Latino U.S. Senator ‘Jose,'” Newsom’s office said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the senator told CBS News the remark was an “unserious comment from an unserious administration.”

“As a former colleague of Senator Padilla, the Vice President knows better. He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,” the spokesperson added.

“He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law,” Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk told CBS News.

On Saturday, in an interview with MSNBC, Padilla called the vice president and the Trump administration “petty and unserious.”

“He knows my name,” Padilla said, adding, “He’s the vice president of the United States. You’d think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.”

On X, the California senator told Vance: “If you want to talk about political theater, let’s start with the thousands of troops that your administration is using as props in Los Angeles.”

One of the more high-profile José Padillas was sentenced to prison on terrorism and conspiracy charges over a decade ago, on allegations that he worked with al-Qaeda.

On Thursday, federal agents were seen outside the Los Angeles Dodgers ballpark, after the team said it blocked immigration authorities from entering. Fans protested, and the Department of Homeland Security said Customs and Border Patrol vehicles “were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.”

Federal immigration officers have stepped up enforcement efforts, with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller saying ICE officers are aiming for at least 3,000 arrests a day. So far, the number of arrests has failed to reach that target, with a daily average of about 1,200 arrests in the month of June as of earlier this week.

Back in Washington, Mr. Trump is handling international matters, particularly the Israel-Iran conflict. In a statement on Thursday, the president said he will decide whether the U.S. will join Israel in its strikes in the next two weeks. The president traveled to Bedminster, New Jersey, for a fundraising dinner Friday night after meetings with his national security team at the White House.

California Senator Alex Padilla has hit back at JD Vance after the vice president called him “José” at a press conference.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials tackled and arrested Padilla earlier this month at a press conference held by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to address the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles. DHS has falsely claimed that Padilla failed to identify himself as a senator and accused him of engaging in political theater.

“[I was hoping] José Padilla would be here to ask a question, but, unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theatre,” the vice president said Thursday during a press conference in L.A., which he visited for the Republican National Committee’s Summer Retreat. “That’s all it is. It’s pure political theatre. These guys show up, they want to be captured on camera doing something.” ADVERTISEMENT

Vice President JD Vance accused Senator Alex Padilla of “political theatrics” during a press conference in Los Angeles, mistaking his first name. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Padilla addressed the name flop on MSNBC on Saturday.

“He knows my name,” Padilla said. “Sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. He’s the vice president of the United States. You’d think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.”

Some of Padilla’s supporters were less reserved in their response to the vice president’s comments.

“Shocked that [Vance] acting like a smug little p–ck would backfire on him,” former Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor posted on X.

“Vance is a racist piece of trash,” progressive influencer Harry Sisson added. “What a disgusting thing to say.”

Padilla shot back at Vance Saturday, saying the vice president’s comments showed how “petty and unserious” the Trump administration is. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Footage of Padilla’s arrest on June 12 shows him being forcefully removed from the room in which the press conference was held, all while loudly identifying himself as a senator, before being knocked to the floor and handcuffed by ICE agents in the hall outside.

In an interview with Fox News, Noem claimed that Padilla had not, in fact, told the agents who he was before his arrest. A spokesperson for her department later added Padilla had engaged in “disrespectful political theatre” by “lunging” toward the secretary—which, again, the video does not show.

Further responding to Vance’s comments in Los Angeles, Padilla told MSNBC Saturday that “you’d think maybe he’d take a moment to talk to some of the families who have been impacted, have been terrorized to feel what’s really going on on the ground.”

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Padilla failed to identify himself as a senator prior to being arrested at a press briefing last week. Aude Guerrucci/REUTERS

“You saw him shaking hands with Marines, but did he listen to the Marines?” Padilla added, referring to 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines that President Donald Trump sent to quell the protests. “Because we have, you know, report after report of the Marines, so many of the Marines themselves don’t want to be there. That’s not why they enlisted.”

US Vice President JD Vance sparked controversy by accusing California authorities of being involved in recent violent immigration riots and referring to Democratic Senator Alex Padilla as “Jose Padilla,” a name linked with a convicted terrorist. JD Vance’s comments about California’s immigration riots and misnaming Senator Padilla sparked controversy.(Getty Images via AFP)

Vance accused Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom of provoking violence by designating Los Angeles as a “sanctuary city” while speaking on a tour of federal immigration enforcement operations during his visit to Los Angeles.“[They] have basically said that this is open season on federal law enforcement,” he stated.

Vance also made fun of Alex Padilla, the first Latino US senator from California, who was just taken into custody during a demonstration. Jose Padilla, a convicted terrorist, was the moniker the Vice President used to allude to Senator Padilla. “I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question. I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theatre. And that’s all it is,” the US VP remarked. “They want to go back to their far-left groups and say, Look, I stood up against border enforcement,” the Associated Press reported him as saying.

Also Read: Tulsi Gabbard fiercely reacts after Donald Trump rejects her Iran assessment as ‘wrong’

Senator Padilla’s spokeswoman reacts to Vance’s remarks

In a strong response, Senator Padilla’s spokesperson emphasized that Padilla and Vance had previously served together. Spokesman Tess Oswald stated, “He should be more focused on demilitarising our city than taking cheap shots.”

Vance’s comment, according to Governor Newsom, was “not an accident,” implying that the name of well-known terrorist “Jose Padilla” was purposefully dropped. “The Vice President’s claim is categorically false,” he asserted.

Vance also faced backlash from Mayor Bass, who called his remarks “utter nonsense” and a “stunt.”

‘He knows my name’, says Padilla

Padilla blasted Vance for calling him “Jose”, stating that he was forcibly removed from last week’s Department of Homeland Security news conference since he wanted to create “theater” amid the city’s turmoil triggered by ICE operations.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday, Padilla stated, “He knows my name. He knows my name.”

“Look, sadly, it’s just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is,” he added. “He’s the vice president of the United States. You think he’d take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.

Vance spokesperson gives clarification

Later, a representative for Vance asserted that it was just a “mix-up between two people who have broken the law.”

Federal immigration sweeps began on June 6 and President Trump’s deployment of hundreds of troops and Marines sparked the demonstrations.

Trump, however, insisted that Los Angeles “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years” if the federal government didn’t step in.

On X, Newsom encouraged Vance to concentrate on California’s wildfire victims. “We are counting on you, Mr. Vice President,” he stated.