Once again, Tom Morello is part of the resistance.
The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame-inducted guitar hero has joined protestors in Los Angeles, a call-to-action following a string of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, orchestrated by president Donald Trump.
Morello, like thousands of others, including Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi, has placed himself in the firing line.
The Rage Against The Machine co-founder shared a post from downtown, in which he’s flanked by fellow activists, holding aloft a sign that reads “Defend LA,” his right fist in the air.
“Made some friends in Boyle Heights and DTLA yesterday,” he writes, adding the hastags #DefendLA and #WhatBetterPlaceThanHereWhatBetterTimeThanNow
Morello is seen wearing a baseball helmet and a black t-shirt emblazoned with the message, “Destroy American Fascism”.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
View this post on Instagram
Speaking with Rolling Stone AU/NZ earlier this year, ahead of his performance at Bluesfest 2025, Morello discussed America’s dangerous right-turn.
“You can only imagine what it’s like here with the impending shadow of American fascism,” he remarked. “We’re staring down the barrel of it. The almost ethnic cleansing of discourse is a very significant warning sign, where anybody who wants to apply for a grant, or if you used words like ‘inclusion’ or ‘gender’, or ‘African-American’, you’re going to be red flagged. It’s pretty serious and significant.”
Meanwhile, protests have gathered pace since Friday, June 6th when ICE executed immigration raids at several workplaces in the Los Angeles area, including the city of Paramount in south L.A. County. There, federal agents deployed non-lethal munitions, including firing rubber bullets and tear gas, claiming the situation was an insurrection.
Trump has gone on to say he would support the arrest of California’s governor Gavin Newsom, after Newsom vowed to sue the federal government over this extraordinary use of military force in southern California, citing a violation of the Constitution. Newsom has said Trump’s actions were an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Anti-ICE protests have since spung up in New York, Philadelphia, Austin and San Francisco, according to local news reports.
The United States military is now expected to deploy some 700 marines, as a contingent of about 4,000 National Guard swarm on LaLa Land — a situation bound to stoke tensions, not relieve them.
Morello has been critical of Trump and the MAGA movement.
“Now that we’re at Trump version two, the better question is not so much just lament and wring our hands on a daily basis, but how do we confront it?” he told RS earlier in the year. “And at least in our country, the answer is not the Democratic Party. Both the mainstream parties have so dicked around the American working class that it provided a fertile field for this little dictator.”
At the recent Boston Calling Music Festival, Morello presented a striking visual backdrop featuring nearly two dozen buttons that spelled out “F-ck Trump.” He also labelled the president a “tyrant,” and referred to him as the “Hater in Chief.”
Morello used that performance to show solidarity with Bruce Springsteen in the Boss’s recent standoff with Trump. “Bruce is going after Trump because Bruce, his whole life, he’s been about truth, justice, democracy, equality,” Morello told the audience. “And Trump is mad at him because Bruce draws a bigger audience. F-ck that guy.”
