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.
Congratulations on your list, but this isnt the first time I've seen someone make a list of meaningless nonsense while pretending like it was revolutionary activism.
Wow he pardoned 2500 people with federal marijuana convictions despite none of those people actually being in prison and despite marijuana remaining illegal federally.
Wow he forgave some student loans despite doing nothing to reduce the actual cost of college.
Wow he protected LGBT servicemembers and yet they're being thrown out of the military once again.
Wow he strengthened relations with Japan despite all of our allies hating us now.
Wow he increased funding for green energy despite that money just going to wealthy companies who didn't need handouts in the first place.
We'll certainly need to put Joe Biden's name down right alongside FDR and Abraham Lincoln as one of the most impactful presidents in US history because from January 2021 to January 2025, the country was a real utopia based on that extensive list.
I'm sure your next response will be something along the lines of arguing that he didnt have the power to change anything, yet we see Trump proving daily that this isn't true. Heck, he even had several months of being president after SCOTUS ruled that the president cant be punished for breaking the law and he still did nothing meaningful with it. You'll respond to that with claims that he "isnt a dictator" or "it would hurt the Democrats chances of getting elected" and here we are with Republicans acting like dictators while overwhelmingly winning their elections.
Zero action with easily disproven excuse after excuse.
Your inability to connect cause and effect is astonishing.
Thats all you have to respond with? If you want to talk about cause and effect, lets talk about the effect of Democrats leading the country like neglectful parents causing Trump to get elected as president twice. Let's talk about how meaningless lip service leads to resentment from the populace and Democrats becoming unelectable.