Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
In a sick and twisted way, Republicans have proved President Donald Trump right when he said that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes, Emily Singer noted at Daily Kos (1/11).
In the wake of a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shooting and killing an unarmed U.S. citizen during an immigration raid in Minneapolis, GOP lawmakers have all lined up behind Trump and the agent, while making vile and defamatory statements about the victim.
The most despicable comment came from Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, who said that he feels no remorse for Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old mother who was killed on Jan. 7 while serving as an observer of an ICE operation in her community.
“If you impede the actions of our law enforcement as they seek to repel foreign invaders from our country, you get what’s coming to you,” Fine said in an appearance on Newsmax. “I do not feel bad for the woman that was involved.”
But he was hardly alone in disparaging Good and parroting the Trump administration’s lies about the killing.
Trump falsely said that the agent who killed Good was injured and that Good was trying to run him over with her car—even though the incident was captured on video from several angles, showing that the agent was not in danger and was not injured as Good tried to slowly drive past him.
Republicans then pushed those same lies, which Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said is a naked attempt to help the agent avoid accountability.
“It appears that the ICE agent was struck by the car, and in the first video you just showed you can see the agent limping away after he fired shots,” Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said on Fox Business. “So I agree with President Trump and Secretary Noem that this was an act of domestic terrorism. These were, it appears, paid agitators.”
Most Republicans who commented on the killing said that they stand with ICE, while Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee goes as far as calling ICE agents “heroes.”
“ICE officers are heroes, not villains,” she wrote on X.
Other lawmakers absurdly blamed Democrats for the killing, saying that their criticism of ICE’s lawless and violent behavior is what led to this.
“This clearly appears to be the result of this just months-long rhetoric against law enforcement and people encouraging that kind of violence,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Jan. 8.
“I pray that every federal law enforcement officer on the ground in Minnesota right now remains safe as they carry out their vital mission,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer wrote on X “Tim Walz and [Minneapolis Mayor] Jacob Frey are cowards who are inciting violence to distract from their own failures. It’s dangerous. Stay safe, @ICEgov.”
