What Kind of American Are You?

Is it just me or did Donald Trump actually walk back his hostile takeover of Minneapolis? For weeks now, he's been telling us how badly he needs to clean the streets of liberal American cities, exerting a force of over 2500 ICE agents on Minneapolis, most of them poorly trained, raiding houses, apartment complexes with an "absolute immunity," to use VP Vance's words. Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis has left 3 persons dead and countless others injured, some severely. 

This unprecedented "raid" has been going on since early December, based on a social media "tip" that Somali immigrants were gaming the social welfare system. Turns out this was a fraud scheme that dated back to 2022 and the perpetrators had all been indicted under the Biden administration. No matter, Trump was looking to stick it to the libs, especially given his fierce hatred of Ilhan Omar, the US Representative from Minneapolis. She was recently assaulted at a town hall meeting by a man wielding a syringe, apparently filled with his own urine. It also allowed Trump to get back at another outspoken critic, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

However, the two had a chat Tuesday, which the White House dubbed "productive" and now the President is looking to de-escalate the situation in the city after the execution-style killing of Alex Pretti. Trump has vowed an "honest investigation" into this horrific death, which was captured on multiple cellphones and has become viral all over the world, including here in Vilnius, Lithuania. This after ICE Barbie tried to paint the Veterans Administration nurse as a "domestic terrorist."

The situation in Minneapolis had already spiraled out of control but the White House desperately tried to pin the blame on protestors and claim Gov. Walz and city mayor Jacob Frey were the chief instigators, despite them repeatedly calling for peace. ICE agents had become so rough, literally blinding protestors, that tempers had reached a boiling point. This after an ICE agent shot Renee Good in the face for refusing orders to pull over, claiming that she was trying to run him over. 

I suppose ICE Barbie and the Stormtrooper in charge of operations, Greg Bovino, thought they had the MAGA world firmly behind them, but even here their actions were called into question as Alex Pretti did not draw his pistol.  He was filming ICE agents with his cellphone as they roughed up a woman, whom he tried to help up from the ground before they descended on him and shot him on the street. Bovino has since been discharged of his duties and it appears ICE Barbie is soon to follow with Republican Senators threatening impeachment.

Trump had questioned whether Pretti should be carrying a gun, but then "right to carry" is one of the corner stones of the "second amendment people," as Trump once fondly referred to them. The only question was whether Pretti drew his gun before getting shot and video recordings indicated he never had a chance before being brutally thrown to the ground by 7 ICE agents with at least two of them shooting him on the spot. Even the NRA was compelled to call Trump out.

With Minneapolis on the cusp of a civil war that has seen both the Black Panthers and American Indian Movement resurrected and serving as armed guards in their ethnic neighborhoods, not to mention the countless protestors on the streets, Trump had to decide pretty quickly where he wanted "Operation Metro Surge" to go.

Of course it wasn't just Walz who asked him to de-escalate the situation, but members of his own party. The last thing they want is more blood on their hands than they already have going into the 2026 Midterm elections. The violent deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti will figure heavily into the collective consciousness of a nation that has had enough of Trump 2.0. Not even his own MAGA base is happy with the direction his administration is taking. 

All they wanted to see at the beginning of the new year were the Epstein Files so that they could put Bill Clinton and other Democrat heads on figurative pikes. As it turns out, Trump is repeatedly mentioned in the files but large chunks have been redacted despite his earlier promise to release the files in full. His attempts to deflect attention away from the Epstein Files have literally blown up in his face, with Minneapolis proving much more difficult to "own" than was Venezuela, which he raided at the start of the year.

Virtually all his city raids have been in Democratic states in an effort to penalize those that voted against him. He has also withheld designated federal funding for projects in these states and frozen badly needed childcare funding to Minneapolis as another punitive measure. The viciousness of this administration is on record. However, he had no direct blood on his hands like he does in the wake of the violent deaths of Good and Pretti, which are not so easy to explain away despite his administration's worst efforts to do so.

So now we see the Border Czar Tom Homan going to Minneapolis in an effort to smooth things out. He doesn't have a very good track record himself, unable to fully explain that "bag of cash" he accepted in a bribery sting, which the Justice Dept. very conveniently shut down. Not to mention a pernicious border policy that in itself is a form of "domestic terrorism." Let's not forget that overstaying a visa is a civil infraction not a felony crime. Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor. 

These immigration raids were supposed to be about bringing in hardened criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua, which Trump alleged Nicolas Maduro was sending to America to expedite his illicit drug trade. Instead, we see anyone with dark skin immediately made suspect, especially if they have tattoos. The DOJ still hasn't given up on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom they deported to El Salvador and were forced to bring back to the United States. He is accused of being part of a notorious Salvadoran gang because of tattoos. These pernicious raids are simply a means of getting back at "sanctuary cities," which this administration has vowed to bring to heel.

Not so easy is it, Donald? You thought everyone would just bend to your whims and now you find massive unrest and the potential of a civil war if you don't walk back your inane anti-immigration policy. Things didn't end very well for the President in that movie.