The images plastered across the front page of every mainstream media outlet in America on Monday depicted societal breakdown.
Smoke, police in riot gear and gas masks, huge crowds of protesters waving banners and flags, lots of screaming, guns everywhere, dogs and cats living together — mass hysteria!
This, apparently, is what “law and order” looks like. After all, Donald Trump did run as the law and order candidate. He’d say that’s what all of this is about: Restoring order. By instigating total bedlam. Order through bedlam. It’s the domestic analogue of his foreign policy: Peace through war.
Jokes aside, we can dispense with the charade: Stephen Miller wants to stir this pot, and at some level, Trump does too. He flirted incessantly during his first term with invoking the Insurrection Act and you wouldn’t be a conspiracy theorist to suggest Miller’s trying to give him an excuse — trying to create the conditions whereby Trump can justify sending the army to Minneapolis.
Steve Bannon’s for it, on the off chance his opinion still counts for anything at The White House. “He knew exactly what he was doing and he knew the consequences,” Bannon said, of the 37-year-old ICU nurse shot and killed by ICE over the weekend.
Bannon echoed Miller’s rhetoric, calling protesting Minneapolitans a “violent domestic terrorist mob” who should “stand down.” In a statement to The Wall Street Journal (why the Journal‘s soliciting statements from Steve is beyond me), Bannon said Trump should call in the troops.
Count me skeptical from a political strategy perspective. Even Trump seems to realize that putting the actual army not just at odds with angry Minneapolis liberals, but with local law enforcement too, is a recipe for someone (else) to be shot. And once you insert active-duty troops into the equation, you’re risking the following for-now-hypothetical headline: “US military kills six, including two police officers, in Minneapolis massacre.”
You don’t want that if you’re Trump. Not in a mid-term year — I mean, not in any year, obviously, but we’re talking about a man who’s lacking in the empathy department, so I’m assessing this purely from a strategic perspective.
According to betting markets, the odds of another government shutdown are now around 75%.
Trump doesn’t need that either. Pinning a shutdown on Democrats would be harder this time given that the fundamental question isn’t actually about the budget, something Americans can’t be bothered to pore over given near universal math anxiety.
Yes, Democrats want to withhold funding from DHS, but that’s just the budgetary manifestation of a broader question that everyone’s pretty passionate about right now: Do Americans really want masked immigration agents roaming the streets, poking hornet nests and then shooting the angry bees?
Bad as this sounds, Bannon’s correct to say Alex Pretti “knew exactly what he was doing.” By every account, Pretti was a good guy, and he certainly didn’t “deserve” his fate. But he did strap himself with a Sig 9 (he’s lucky he didn’t accidentally shoot himself) and set about confronting a group of armed and, if ICE’s critics are to be believed, poorly-trained and trigger-happy, federal agents operating with an implicit Miller mandate to use force first and ask questions later.
I’m not blaming the victim. I’m merely saying that ICE is out and about looking for trouble, and there are a lot of fed up Americans who, while not harboring murderous intentions nor a death wish, are by now resolved to help ICE find it. Find the trouble, I mean.
Markets shook their heads despairingly, but apathetically, at this whole sordid affair. US equities rose ahead of tech earnings, Treasury yields actually slipped a bit Monday and so on. As I reminded readers last week, stocks aren’t going to react until the danger to corporate bottom lines is clear and present.
But my goodness: Trump has to get a handle on this before something even worse happens. For all the bombast and bullsh-t, and even considering this is a president who once countenanced the sacking of the Capitol building, Trump surely doesn’t want to risk a mini-civil war.
In a sign that Trump recognizes he might’ve pushed the envelope a little too far this time, he offered lukewarm, roundabout praise for Tim Walz on Monday, describing “a very good call” with the governor. “We seem to be on a similar wavelength,” Trump said.
I’m not sure what “wavelength” that is. The one where US citizens getting shot repeatedly in broad daylight and in full view of a terrified public by federal agents counts as a suboptimal outcome, I guess.
Who you gonna call?
Interesting that my friends sent this to me:
“Why is Alex Pretti being demonized for carrying a gun after Kyle Rittenhouse was celebrated for it”. Fox’s Trey Gowdy
That quote was written by
conservative activist and podcaster
Charlie Kirk in 2018.
:
The full quote, which resurfaced in January 2026 following a shooting involving federal agents in Minnesota, reads:
“The 2nd amendment is not for hunting, it is not for self protection. It is there to ensure that free people can defend themselves if god forbid government became tyrannical and turned against its citizens”.
Bafflingly
Interesting conundrum for the 2A types, seeing Trump post that only criminals carry guns in public . . .
My speculation is that Trump is not actually paying attention to, or actually in control of, what ICE is doing in any given city, until things blow up to the point that the “uh oh” starts bleeding over into FOX coverage. Then he tries to lurch his way out. It is the Drunkard’s Walk theory of leadership, pinballing from one crisis to another. Maybe we’ll see ICE declare victory, ramp down in Minnesota, and ramp up in some other state.
The political backlash following these predictable murders of opportunity committed by barely trained brown shirts (“Want to dominate, bash and even kill the deportable and domestic terrorists? ICE needs you!!”) is something that—who woulda thunk it?—the White House was unprepared for. And that reaction may last for months. Why?
—Kristi the Garden Noem, Fascist Overcoat Bovino and their happy crew is going to have to testify in Congress….Dems and the MSM will do everything to keep the issue front and center as long as possible.
—Every blue city invaded in the future by Border Control and ICE will be ready, prepped by the same community tactics that Twin City people are using to protect their city (no brown people in the streets, fewer chances to deport, bad numbers for the Deporter in Chief)…and they are doing it without burning and turning.
So how till Trump keep his deportable numbers up? If he TACOs to his left and fires Noem, Bovino, et al, those numbers sink. If he TACOs to his right and unleashes his private armies and uses the Insurrection Act, etc., will Americans really keep both House and Senate red? The streets may be red, but I doubt Congress will be….
“What are we doing wrong “, screamed the president to his cowering sycophants.
“Nothing, your worship”, replied a quivering voice.
“Yes, you are winning this, Sir, we all know that.” another tiny voice ventured everyone nodding at him and at each other……..
Walt, you write “Trump surely doesn’t want to risk a mini-civil war.” Could you elaborate?
Certainly there are a number observers that would assert the opposite. Reasons given that indeed he might want to stoke a civil war (mini or otherwise) would include, consolidation of executive power, influence next election outcome by having federal troops present to intimidate voters, (further) stoking of conflict to (further) justify authoritarian measures under the guise of restoring order, etc?
You certainly don’t make observations without reason(s), I would be very interested in your counter arguments to those who believe he does want a civil war, or at least doesn’t care if one occurs.
Pretty much every day now I find myself at some point wondering if this what it was like to be a sane German living under the Nazi regime.
Pretty much every day now, I’m hearing YT’ers from Europe confirm that yes, it is. An Estonian commented yesterday to the effect that “You Americans better figure out how to solve this, because I remember the later years under the USSR, and this is actually worse than what we dealt with then. Sure, there was an oppressive bureaucracy, but at least there was a system, there were rules. This is just chaos”. I watch these guys for Ukraine perspective, but their attention keeps getting drawn to America.
H-Man, once again the TACO lives. Send in Homan, put Bovino and Noem in the outhouse, recall the troops and probably tell everyone tomorrow “I had no idea all of this was going”. We will see if Miller is also banished to the outhouse since he was spewing the cool aid immediately. Then kiss and make up as TACO always ends. I had to tell my youngest today, that you can no longer believe what your government tells you about anything. It is a sad day for our country when you can’t trust your leaders to simply tell the truth about what happened to Pretti but instead run like a scalded dog and label him a “domestic terrorist”.
OMG you are a sharp, on point, and make me laugh despite living through a historic tragedy: a “suboptimal outcome” and just a “strategic perspective” given Trump’s devoid of empathy. Thanks for speaking truth with an edge.
Pretti was murdered. Full stop. And your attempt to assign blame to him is pathetic. He never pulled a gun, and after they took his gun they shot him 10 times. You are unfamiliar with gun laws and the gun culture of people living in those states. They put on a gun like you do a wrist watch. And Pretti did not confront them. He tried to assist a woman pushed to the ground by the Feds and then they attacked him to prevent him from helping her. It’s all there on video. Passing around Bannon’s bs? Wow.
Regardless, it’s true that Pretti knew what he was getting into. To argue otherwise would be to insult his intelligence. He knew what could happen. It happened. On some level he decided it was worth it.
He was an intensive care nurse after all. That’s a type. Like Doctors Without Borders, there are people who take risks for what they believe is the greater good. These are intelligent people. They go into hell holes like South Sudan and Lebanon, and Cambodia with their eyes open.
He knew the risks. All we can do is honor his decision, and make sure his sacrifice meant something.
What exactly are you getting at? He was following the law. He was taking pictures or video. He was assisting another person who could have possibly been injured. Are you saying this is now a hell hole country where one should evaluate the risk of death by federal agents even while following the law? Perhaps I need to look into the risk I am taking running down to the grocery store. I might need to help someone who has been pushed to the ground.
Technically, I wouldn’t be breaking any laws if I put on my P30SK, drove to a dangerous neighborhood and started patrolling the streets with my iPhone out in the interest of keeping people safe from all the gang activity that goes on there, but….
But you are not talking about being attacked by an employee of the federal government.
Oh, I just saw your reply, grsinger85. I gotta say, I’m a little surprised. You’re a long-time reader, which means you’ve read the Monthly Letters, right? If so, your suggestion that I’m unfamiliar with “gun culture” seems a wee bit off base, no?
More broadly, grsinger, your comment reflects the same sort of reactionary bent we habitually claim is the sole purview of the political right. I described precisely what happened to this man in an article published here over the weekend. If you didn’t read that article, that isn’t my problem. Was he murdered? Yes. Plainly. Did an ICE agent execute him in the middle of a Whole Foods or in line at a Starbucks? No. Plainly not. That’s what Bannon meant. Is that hard to take, particularly coming from ol’ Steve? Sure. But in our zeal to stand up for what’s right, let’s not lie to ourselves and each other. Not only is that unhelpful, it’s counterproductive: It gives people like Bannon and Miller an excuse to scoff at us.
Apres’ Moi, Le Deluge!
‘Captain, the seas are rising, the winds blowing a gail and we’re drifting towards a rocky shore’. ‘Not to worry mates. Trump, Bannon and Miller have the wheel. How could anything go wrong!’
As to Pretti having a gun; the Right and SCOTUS have been practically begging every ‘true’ American to lock and load. Of course, if you’re non-white that means you’ve just put a bullseye on your back. Likewise, apparently, if you’re trying to protect your unalienable rights. America has never been able to move past ‘live by the gun, die by the gun’.
Apparently Trump and his geniuses have decided to send ICE agents to the Winter Olympic Games to protect Vance and Rubio. Your response is probably the same as the Italians; What! Hell no! We fell for Mussolini once, but this is a bridge too far even for us.