Trump's Colossal Minneapolis Backfire

The Gang That Can't Shoot Straight Strikes Again

Ever since the November ‘24 election I’ve been calling Donald Trump and his thugs The Gang That Can’t Shoot Straight. I predicted back then that the much-feared fall of our beloved democracy would never ultimately happen because these fuckers are simply too ignorant, incompetent, impulsive, erratic, and chaotic to undo 250 years of history’s greatest democracy. So far I’m right.

Because ever since last January 20, when Trump stepped back into the Oval Office for the second time, we’ve seen this tumultuous, lawless gang wildly shoot from the hip in 100 different directions every minute of every day, spraying America with errant bullets in an frenzied, often disorganized attempt to dismantle and destroy our democratic institutions, norms and boundaries.

And now the administration is responsible for its bullets literally taking the lives of U.S. citizens with the tragic murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They rushed out immediately after both shootings, calling Alex and Renee “domestic terrorists”. They labeled Alex an “assassin” who came armed, brandishing a gun, and who obstructed and attacked agents, who he came to “massacre”.

But now they’ve have to dial all of that back because DHS’s own review, and expert analysis of several videos, totally contradict what Trump, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Senior White House Nazi Stephen Miller, and Little Gestapo-man Greg Bovino, who Trump just removed as the head of Border Patrol’s Minneapolis operation, initially said in assassinating Pretti‘s character after they literally assassinated him.

So the blame game has begun. Miller blamed Noem and DHS, claiming he made his statements based on the initial DHS/CBP reporting. Noem’s blamed Miller and Trump, who she says she directly took orders from. And Trump’s so far only blaming Bovino, who he said “Is a pretty out there kind of guy”, and who he replaced with Border Czar Tom Homan. Which is like shitting your pants and changing your shirt.

Which brings us to Trump‘s half-hearted attempt at a pivot (though notice how after MN Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked at a Town Hall he called her a “fraud” who “had herself sprayed”. Way to lower the temp).

He knows this is a fucking disaster. He knows that immigration is not the asset he expected it to be and that his self-owned chaos in Minneapolis is now a gigantic liability. But Trump will never take or accept blame himself, so one or more heads must roll because someone has to be blamed. Someone will have to pay the price for Trump‘s inflammatory rhetoric, incitement of violence, and reckless policies. All of which led to the murders of Good and Pretti.

So he demoted and removed Herr Bovino and dispatched Mr. Bag-o-Cash Homan. At the very least, in terms of optics, that’s a seemingly productive move. But the bigger hope is that it actually leads to a meaningful shift in tone and strategy.

And what about Noem? Is she next? There’s a bipartisan call for her resignation, and a somewhat bi-partisan threat of impeachment if she fails to resign or be fired. Honestly, it’s hard to fathom her staying in that job much longer. She is beyond damaged goods. She’s perceived as a liar, slanderer and a murderer. And Trump reportedly was already dissatisfied with her prior to these shootings. At today’s cabinet meeting, the embarassing monthly ass-licking session Trump demands, she was uncharacteristically silent the entire time, as if Daddy told her “Just sit there and shut the fuck up and look like everything’s ok…for now”.

That leaves the out-of-control agents who murdered these two great human beings in cold blood at point blank range. Will they escape accountability or, bowing to public and political pressure, will Trump ultimately throw them under the bus?

Besides Bovino and Noem, the agents would seem like the easiest, most obvious targets of Trump’s blame-game. Just think about the personal benefit to him publicly and politically—specifically outside of hard-core MAGA cultists, and among key swing voters— if those agents were to be arrested on murder charges. And besides, we know from January 6th, he And weep down doesn’t give two-fucks about cops.

We know that Trump is loyal to no one but himself. So it’s quite possible that such arrests may eventually happen if he does see the personal benefit, and the pressure, criticism and calls for accountability intensifies.