The murder of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent has sent the politics of Trump’s cruel immigration agenda into free fall—and Trump knows it. Minnesota now shows what happens when maximalist rhetoric meets reality: two U.S. citizens dead after encounters with federal agents, followed by Orwellian denials that defy video evidence captured by brave bystanders.
This isn’t policy debate; it’s federal goons killing Americans and laundering it through propaganda. Trump helped engineer this, relentlessly targeting Gov. Walz and casting Minnesota as proof that only brute force could restore order. But public opinion is turning. Support for abolishing ICE has surged to 46%, including a notable GOP shift. Pretti didn’t fit the demonized caricature—white, an ICU nurse, a gun owner—and that made the backlash unavoidable. Hence, the off-ramp.