After another fatal shooting of an American citizen by federal agents in Minneapolis, President Trump and his sycophantic lieutenants are reacting with characteristic mendacity.
But their invidious attempts to blacken the memory of Alex Pretti, falsely describing him as a “domestic terrorist”, may serve as a turning point that sparks mass resistance towards the President and the thuggish regime that he leads.
By all accounts, Pretti, 37, was an enlightened, passionate and caring American. An intensive care unit nurse who was beloved by his family and highly regarded by his colleagues, he was stirred to participate in protests against the activities of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the Border Patrol in Minneapolis by the killing of Renee Good.
Good, 37, was shot dead on 7 January by an ICE agent who fired into the mother-of-three’s SUV, which she had stopped sideways in the street at the scene of an immigration raid. Trump supporters have claimed Good tried to “weaponise” her car and drive at officers, also labelling her a “domestic terrorist”.
However, as in the Pretti killing, videos of the shooting contrast starkly with this account.
Both Good and Pretti were American citizens. Neither were a target of Trump’s mass deportation goons.
But no matter; earlier this month, Vice President J.D. Vance argued that Good’s killing was “justified”, while Stephen Miller – Deputy White House Chief of Staff and the Trump’s unofficial ideologue-in-chief – has even suggested that ICE agents have “federal immunity in the conduct of your duties”.
In the case of Pretti, the administration’s efforts to smear him are aided, but also abetted, by the fact that he was carrying a 9-mm pistol loaded with ammunition.
His reasons for doing that are unclear, but he was entirely within his legal rights under the US constitution’s Second Amendment, which is ardently supported by Trump and many of his supporters.
Pretti had a legal permit to carry his weapon in public, and had no criminal record beyond a couple of traffic tickets.
And there is no evidence that he attempted to use his weapon during Saturday’s encounter. He certainly did not “brandish” it, as the White House claims.
Nor is there any evidence to suggest that – in the words of Homeland Security Secretary Pam Bondi – “he arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement”.
From the President on down, top Trump administration officials have engaged in such brazen, false claims about both killings that they have left themselves with little room to maneuver in the face of rising public fury.
Day after day, the country soaks up increasingly violent images of ICE and Border Patrol officers brutalising not only illegal immigrants, but US citizens as well.
Thousands of anti-ICE demonstrators gathered in San Francisco and other cities to show solidarity with Minneapolis (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty)The country is now at a potential tipping point. Twenty-four hours before Pretti’s death, an estimated 15,000 protestors took to the streets of Minneapolis in subzero temperatures, demanding the withdrawal of ICE and Border Patrol agents from the city’s streets.
Demonstrations are set to grow. “Do not destroy our own city”, police chief Brian O’Hara urged Minneapolis residents.
In a staggering letter on Saturday night, Bondi accused Governor Tim Waltz of Minnesota and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis – both Democrats – of refusing “to enforce the law” and of “putting federal agents in danger”.
Among her sweeping demands, she even asked the state of Minnesota to hand over its electoral register, further fueling concerns that the White House is seeking to interfere with the conduct of November’s mid-term elections.
For his part, Trump has threatened to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act and flood Minneapolis with even more military force.
But the White House must now contend with rising dissent among the President’s fellow Republicans. On social media, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asserted that “I expect law enforcement officers to use good judgement. But not to foolishly risk their lives or the lives of others”.
Such is the backlash that Pretti’s defenders include the powerful, pro-gun National Rifle Association, which posted on social media that “responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens”.
A poll conducted for the website Politico before Pretti’s killing showed rising concern within Trump’s Make America Great Again movement about the tactics of his federal agents.
One fifth of voters who backed Trump in 2024 described the mass deportation campaign as “too aggressive”; one Trump voter in three said that while they support the goal of the president’s deportation policy, they disapprove of its implementation.
Pretti’s killing may also have hastened yet another government shutdown.
Democrats in the Senate are now under massive pressure to abandon their backing of proposed legislation to keep the government open, which would preserve full funding for ICE operations from coast to coast. The government will cease operations on Friday night unless a compromise can be found.
The Border Patrol agents’ actions in Minneapolis on Saturday have almost certainly doomed that possibility, while further tarnishing the US’s already-bedraggled reputation on the world stage.
Meanwhile, Republicans now face fateful choices as they decide how long to stand by Trump as his attack dogs continue to kill American citizens on America’s streets.
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