When a reporter asked Trump on Thursday evening whether or not he would be drawing back in Minneapolis, he responded: “Well, we want to keep our country safe. We’ll do whatever we can to keep our country safe.”
“So, not pulling back?” the reporter asked.
“No, no, not at all,” the president said.
This stands in stark contrast to what his administration has said this week.
After federal agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday, Senate Democrats had threatened a government shutdown over the inclusion of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding and, within it, a historic increase to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) budget.
Seemingly in response, the Trump administration scrambled to claw back some of its messaging.
The White House reneged on top officials’ comments calling Pretti an “assassin” and “terrorist,” and the administration booted Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino from his position overseeing the raid in Minneapolis. The new chief of Operation Metro Surge, “border czar” Tom Homan, assured the media that the operation was going to “draw down.” Trump himself said on Tuesday that “we’re going to deescalate a little bit” in Minneapolis.
And, for good measure, Trump administration insiders leaked some stories to the media about turmoil within Trump’s cabinet about immigration policy.
Just hours after Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) announced that they had reached a deal to avert a shutdown, however, Trump changed his tune. That deal, which would give DHS two weeks of funding to operate while negotiations are ongoing, was announced Thursday afternoon.
Trump’s comments lend credence to critics who said that the administration was only posturing about deescalating while never planning to do so.
The Senate still hasn’t passed the funding package due to some Republican holdouts. However, other Republicans have framed the negotiations as a win — and critics have slammed the deal as one that disproportionately benefits Trump.
The threat of a government shutdown was a major leverage point for Democrats. It would begin this weekend, just a week after federal agents’ killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, giving Democrats power over Republicans to extract concessions on the Trump administration’s ICE operation.
Trump was desperate to avoid it — especially after his party shouldered much of the blame for the historically long shutdown last year. In a post on Truth Social on Thursday evening, he lauded the package.
Meanwhile, critics have slammed Schumer for the deal, which only buys Republicans time to distance themselves from the Pretti killing and continue the administration’s raids in Minneapolis and other cities unhindered.
“Leader Schumer should ask the Minnesotans who are watching their neighbors get killed in cold blood if a deal with no plan to stop ICE is enough right now,” said MoveOn Civic Action.
Because Trump was actually scared that the government was going to shut down, and there would be no way for him to offset the blame. Schumer just took the burden off of his shoulders.
Let the government shutdown and refuse to compromise until there are actual consequences for what has happened.
This was their chance to make a list of demands, and instead of something bold but still very reasonable like:
•Make border patrol leave Minneapolis immediately
•Fire every ICE agent who was hired during the period when Miller demanded flooding the zone and bypassing background checks. If people want to reapply through the proper process and pass background checks they can. This is not only reasonable it should be fucking mandatory for liability reasons, it shows consequences, and at least slows the damage being inflicted.
•Last I checked, DHS was refusing to even identify who shot Pretti or release the body cam footage that allegedly exists. I know Schumer is asking ICE not be allowed to wear masks to prevent this in the future, but this information should be released immediately and there should be consequences for DHS ever refusing to comply with public accountability.
•Give local officials more power and autonomy when it comes to reigning DHS in, because they're definitely not stopping this shit anytime soon. If you want to prevent a civil war, something like this is not only very reasonable it's very necessary.
Instead the demands are things like "agree to no longer deport U.S. citizens." In other words "please start following the law." You don't have to sink to your enemy's low and refusal to compromise to play hardball, but even now when shit is this serious, Schumer and Jefferies seem to be incapable of doing anything other than placating the administration.
I'm not even in the "there's no difference between the Democrats and Republicans so why bother," propaganda camp, but I do know for a fact there often isn't a difference in who funds both sides. So either they're: A. Really bad at their jobs, B. More concerned about pleasing their donors than protecting America, or C. They have something like Stockholm or battered wives syndrome. Most likely it's D. Some combination of all of the above.
This is why we need to get dark money out of politics. Any politician who doesn't want the job without the extra kickbacks, and complains about the measley 6 figure tax funded salary they're expected to live on (and believe me this would be the majority of politicians on both sides) should have been forced out of the game a long time ago.
A small nitpick, the government shutdown hasn't been averted until the house votes on the bill which funds the government through September but only funds the DHS for two weeks. Funding officially ran out on the 30th of January. We might be in a shutdown and not even know it yet.
Also, if you care about campaign funding then the DNC are your dudes. The DNC platform includes reversing citizens united SCOTUS decision which requires a constitutional amendment meaning 60 votes. It would limit individual contributions and ban PAC money completely.