It appears, at first glance, that the brutal murder of Alex Pretti by a pack of Customs and Border Protection thugs has set the Trump administration on the back foot. CBP’s pint-size Obergruppenführer Greg Bovino has been sent packing back to California with his Nazi coat, and Trump has reportedly ordered some of the rank-and-file goons to be sent elsewhere. Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem is in danger of losing her position as well, with two Republicans calling for her ouster. (Perhaps she’ll found a dog shelter.) Even Stephen Miller is equivocating, suggesting that CBP may not have followed correct protocol.
Many in the media have declared this a significant change of tone for Trump, if not a major defeat. The New York Times declared in a four-byline piece that “the moment was a rare example of the president moving to mitigate the harsh optics associated with a crackdown his administration has otherwise celebrated.” Trump told ABC News that he might consider a “more relaxed” approach to immigration, which “appear[s] to signal a shift in tone for Trump,” the network reported. Elsewhere, he briefly suggested a “de-escalation.” USA Today reported that the administration is now in “damage control” mode, and that it is now working with Democratic officials in Minnesota.
Lost amid these stentorian pronouncements of tonal shifts are the actual circumstances on the ground in Minneapolis. ICE and CBP thugs are still stalking the streets of the city, abusing and kidnapping people at will. There is little sign that they are actually going to leave, absent a lot more pressure from outside. The focus on words out of Washington rather than the place that triggered the reaction is a serious mistake.
Blood-boiling stories are still pouring in from all over the Minneapolis region. Here’s ICE storm troopers tearing a husband away from his wife and daughter even as she begs to be deported with him. Perhaps most shockingly, ICE attempted to break into the Ecuadoran consulate in Minneapolis—which, according to the norms of international diplomacy, is tantamount to an act of war.
I spoke with several of the contacts I made for my prior piece, and they all confirmed that there has been little visible change. And as for Trump’s supposed willingness to work with local Democrats, on Wednesday he reversed course again, threatening Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey that he is “playing with fire” for enforcing local sanctuary city laws.
Nationally, immigration agents have killed at least eight people and wounded nine more during their extended terror campaign, while causing at least 32 others to die in detention camps.
Furthermore, I would not trust the half-hearted turn against ICE/CBP Gestapo tactics in certain corners of conservative media to hold. Right-wing figures like Fox News’s Dana Perino, the podcaster Tim Pool, the streamer Asmongold, and others found themselves unable to defend the shooting of Pretti, perhaps because the Mafia-style execution was so blatant, or because he was a straight white man, or because of how baldly it contradicts decades of conservative talking points about gun rights. Or perhaps they are just queasy about endorsing a norm whereby if someone is merely carrying a holstered legal firearm, then it is fine and dandy for the state to summarily execute them in the street. That’s important because conservatives criticizing Trump gives the mainstream media permission to describe what he is doing accurately, because that means it isn’t “partisan,” according to the ridiculous norms of elite political journalism.
But if there’s anything that can be counted on in American politics, it’s the evil lizard creatures who dominate conservative propaganda eventually cooking up some rationalization, excuse, lie, or distraction for absolutely anything Trump does, and the conservative base eagerly swallowing it whole. There was a similar moment after January 6th, but after a few days, people like Tucker Carlson cooked up a new line that actually, the putsch was merely a harmless tour of the Capitol building, or the FBI and antifa did it as a false flag, and anyway here are some transgender brown people to hate, shut up and eat your slop. The MAGA base did indeed eat the slop.
Rising stars in conservative media are already doing this, like the open neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. His argument has the benefit of clarity: Murdering your political opponents in cold blood is good. He called Pretti a “race traitor” and said: “If you don’t get it at this point, you’re irredeemable. If you’re out there throwing yourself in front of ICE to die for these dirt bags, let them. Let them. One less asshole in the world.” Chances are good that sooner or later something like this will become the new MAGA party line, reality will once again have a liberal bias, and the Republican compulsion to double down in every possible circumstance will rise again.
The mainstream media is clearly engaged in some wishcasting here. They would very much like for Trump to stop being a delusional madman conducting an ethnic-cleansing campaign on American cities. But that’s simply who he is, and as his mind continues falling to pieces, it’s likely going to get worse.
None of this is to say that Minneapolis hasn’t delivered Trump and his squadrismo effort a major blow. They have seriously hampered ICE kidnapping efforts, humiliated the regime, and demonstrated to the world the value of solidarity and freedom—and in many cases at great personal cost. This just isn’t the end of the fight.