In the wake of the controversial killing by ICE in Minneapolis, the Trump administration has doubled down on its concerted smear campaign against the victim, Renee Nicole Good.
The shooting, which occurred earlier this month, involved ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shooting Good during a confrontation following the deployment of ICE to the Minneapolis area. While the Trump administration and some conservative media have aggressively pushed a narrative that Godo attempted to use her car as a weapon, video evidence and witness accounts prove otherwise.
This past weekend, top administration officials fanned out across news programs to label Good a “domestic terrorist.” Campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt, appearing on Fox News, stated: “This deranged lunatic woman was trying to ram [the officer] over with her vehicle and was using that vehicle as a weapon, which justifies domestic terrorism.”
Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” deflected when pressed on the label, suggesting that if one “looks up the definition of terrorism, it certainly can fall within that.” Similarly, former Trump administration official and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defended the characterization on CNN, despite video analysis contradicting the claim that Good posed an imminent lethal threat.
On The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur and Jordan Uhl criticized Trump’s characterization of Good, framing it as a blatantly malicious deflection from an unjustified killing.
“The Trump administration is continuing its smear campaign against Renee Nicole Good, the Minnesota woman who was murdered by Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent,” Jordan said. He later added, “They are demanding that you reject what you see on video and accept the ludicrous notion that Renee Good was a domestic terrorist.”
Jordan also delivered a pointed analysis of the shooting itself, arguing the unequivocal video evidence reveals the ICE agent committed “cold-blooded murder.”
“Her last words were, ‘That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you,” Jordan said. “And then you try to tell me that that person is a terrorist? Immediate non-starter. He knew what he was going to do before he even did it.”
He later added, “By defending this agent, it shows they want this to be the label they use going forward. If you get in the way of this administration, you are a terrorist. And if you are killed on the spot, so be it.”
This aggressive post-killing narrative comes as ICE faces a massive public relations crisis. A series of nationwide protests under the “ICE Out For Good” banner occurred over the weekend. More damingly, reports have revealed that the agency, under the Trump administration, slashed its basic training for deportation officers from approximately five months to just 47 days – a number reportedly chosen because Trump is the 47th president.
Cenk highlighted the absurdity and danger of this policy. “Academy training was shortened to 47 days…because Donald Trump is the 47th president. Tell me that’s a rational approach,” he said, citing a report from The Atlantic.
“Once you call someone a terrorist, you can do anything you want to them,” Cenk concluded. “That is why we cannot have the left wing or the right wing or any wing in this country being called terrorists. It is super dangerous, and it will have blowback consequences for all of us.”
While official polling hasn’t been released yet, sentiment among the American public toward ICE’s lawless actions seems to be rapidly collapsing.
