Former “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd called on everyone to lower the temperature and tone down their political rhetoric — just moments before he himself amped up the rhetoric attacking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Todd’s comments came just days after a gunman — using apps promoted by Democrats and media outlets that track the movements of ICE agents in real time — opened fire on an ICE facility in Texas.

On his podcast — “The Chuck Toddcast” — Todd first remarked on the increasing political violence — and begged Americans to tone things down.

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“Please, will everybody stop trying to decide whose side is more prone to violence? The fact of the matter is nobody’s hands are clean,” he said. “We have to turn down the rhetoric.”

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🚨NEW: After surge of left-wing political violence, Chuck Todd *BEGS* Americans not to compare which side is worse🚨

“Please, will everybody stop trying to decide whose side is more prone to violence? The fact of the matter is nobody’s hands are clean … We have to turn down… pic.twitter.com/jl3BOgSpLn

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) September 25, 2025

Just a short time later, however, Todd himself was turning up the temperature on ICE agents.

“I’m not going to sit here and say ICE is bringing this upon themselves — but why are we masking the agents when they come after people?” he asked, leaving out the fact that ICE agents and their families have been doxxed and threatened — and that ICE officials have told them to wear masks in order to protect themselves from retaliatory action. “This is America. This is not jackbooted thugs coming in at the — you know, that is not what America is supposed to be.”

“When you sort of govern in a nihilistic way, you’re going to end up creating a lot of nihilists. And that’s a very scary proposition for those of us that would like to live in free, normal America,” he added.

Shortly after the ICE facility shooting, Vice President JD Vance called out media personalities for driving the anti-ICE rhetoric.

“You don’t have to agree with my immigration policies. You don’t have to agree with Donald Trump’s immigration policies,” Vance said at the time. “But your political rhetoric encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell, and you have no place in the political conversation of the United States of America.”

Sinclair Broadcasting Group doubled down on Monday, saying that despite an agreement reached earlier in the day by ABC and late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, their ABC affiliates would not air “Jimmy Kimmel Live” when it returns to ABC on Tuesday.

Sinclair owns nearly 40 ABC affiliates across the country — including one in the nation’s capital — and while those affiliates will preempt Kimmel’s show for the time being, the broadcasting group released a statement indicating that a deal could be reached in the future.

Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return. pic.twitter.com/beGC6VID2x

— Sinclair, Inc. (@WeAreSinclair) September 22, 2025

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the statement read.

Sinclair’s statement came just hours after ABC parent-company Disney announced that Kimmel’s show would return on Tuesday after several days off the air.

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” a spokesperson for Disney told Fox News Digital.

Kimmel landed in timeout several days earlier after backlash over comments he made about the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” said Kimmel at the time.

Shortly after his comments went viral, both Nexstar and Sinclair announced plans to preempt the comedian’s show. The two broadcast companies own or control nearly 80 ABC affiliates between them.