Back in 2020 I thought “Defund the Police” was going too far and was a loser politically. But ICE has radicalized me. “Abolish ICE” is the moderate position. Stringing up ICE officers like Mussolini at the end is the radical position. Every Democrat who moves to fund DHS in the minibus should be primaried. There is no reforming this. It needs to be razed entirely and salt the earth on which it stood.
The whole administration has to go through something like the Nuremberg Trials. They have to go to prison. All the Trumps, Kushner's, etc. must face justice. Or rescind their citizenship, strip them of everything they own and then drop them all into Somalian jails. All except for those under 18.
Don't tempt me! I already dream of the impeachment of President Loose Cannon and his entire sorry sycophantic crew. Then, we ship all of them off to a gulag in some remote, desolate place.
I fear the whole set-up is simply a dress rehearsal for ignoring the midterms and not having an election in 2028 with the infrastructure already in place. Congratulations, Congress you are the Politburo.
Absolutely, Steve. There is no point in being them to oust them. We can't restore the Constitution by ignoring it ourselves. That's what separates us from them. Shed tears and raise hue and cry for flag burning or kneeling during the anthem, but look the other way when the Constitution is being decimated. How about pledging allegiance to the Constitution.
I agree. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and given appropriate punishments. I do not want to treat anybody as these goons have been treating people, even the goons themselves. I do not want to be them. Please keep that in mind, Bulwarkers.
Give them the chance to defend themselves in court in front of a jury of their peers and if they are found guilty, send them to jail. That is the restoration of the rule of law. The location of the jail is irrelevant. If it bothers you too much, call it deportation.
I would suggest that one of the biggest dangers confronting a pro-democracy movement is that it becomes like its oppressors. And that's what you are essentially proposing.
If we're going to start giving up our principles this early in the process, then I shudder to think what kinds of things will be said in Bulwark comments three or four years down the road, when people's anger with the Trump regime will likely be much higher.
If this is the road people are intent to go down, I'm stepping off the bus.
I know it sounds wildly conspiratorial, but I figured part of the rationale behind the Venezuelan "regime change" was to set up a...Plan B... for the higher-ups. The Mar a Lago set was hardly going to tolerate the weather in Saint Petersburg.
They got rid of one socialist oppressive government, replaced it with another that was socialist oppressive government personally loyal to them, and tried to set up income streams. I think it has at least crossed the administration's minds' that things might go very far south for them.
I mean Trump started musing about how invading Venezuela, the top brass and the media replied "Venezuela would be so hard to invade! So much coast! Such dense cities! So much dense jungle." And Trump's response was "okay, now we totally have to do a regime change." And then he did.
Was the regime changed at all? The VP was elected along with Maduro so I would assume that the regime is still in place. Were other officials removed, or fired? I think this was a case where someone wanted to see some action, some blowing up of something, and dramatic video footage.
I agree with that. Authoritarians understand force - don't be public about your allegiances or you'll end up in the same predicament as your fascist leaders.
I thought "Defund the Police" was stupid until I saw police in Uvalde standing around armed to the teeth and yet unable to work up the gumption to stop a man shooting and terrorizing a classroom of fourth graders--for 45 minutes! They should all have resigned in disgraced.
And now ICE is treating everyone holding up a cellphone as if they're enemies of the people. I agree. It needs to be abolished.
I also realize now that what ICE is doing to protesters and immigrants is a taste of what black Americans were angry at the police about in 2020. We're just seeing law enforcement (for last of a better term) craziness and injustice on a larger scale now.
This is a culture issue that is rooted in the history of American policing which had/has often about enforcing class and race. There was also an insidious militarization of the police after 911 with the military offloading more and more tactical equipment which had not place in domestic police forces. This has resulted in police forces who tend to see the public as any enemy and themselves as a distinct class constantly under threat of violence when they are not. We need honest conversations about what community policing should look like and that police are a service employed by the community.
Everyone should read Radley Balko's book "Rise of the Warrior Cop." It was written in 2013, but it's still relevant today, and discusses just those issues you have mentioned.
Yes, this law enforcement style is what was protested in 2020.
What we are seeing now in the response by ICE, CBP, whatever is what a segment of our society wanted to see in response to protests of 2020...bear spray into the face, shoving people around, shooting them. I fear that a segment of our society thinks this is what law enforcement should be doing in general.
We can already name the House Democrats who voted to continue funding DHS. Henry Cuellar of Texas is in no danger of losing his primary (Trump recently pardoned him and saved his political career...which was odd since he's a Democrat, but maybe it proved to be a good investment in this case). Jared Golden of Maine is retiring. I don't know much about the rest.
I suggest taking that insight and becoming more circumspect in the rush to oust Democrats. Concentrate instead on unseating the almost universally Trump compliant Republicans.
They should get no dispensation for voting on the previous funding bill. ICE had been here a month or more at that point and Renee Good was still being called a professional agitator, oh and dead.
Gillen and Suozzi are in Trump friendly Long Island districts - recently held by the GOP. Really had no realistic choice - or they would be branded “defund the police”.
There's always a choice...just sayin' (I did it myself in a professional unethical situation, leaving $$$ on the table.) Tough moral decisions are just that, tough and moral.
Yes, there is ALWAYS a choice. Saying "I (or he or she or they) had no choice" is not true and a cop-out. The choice you make reveals very clearly what your real values are.
While I may agree with those quite often, but I highly doubt a majority in their districts support ICE tactics. Plus, 2026 is likely to be a very good year for Democrats. They don't have anything to worry about.
Gillen came out quickly with “Noem must be impeached “ statement. Seems she wants to atone for her funding vote. One could hope that is her reason, at least-
I think they had a choice given how good a year 2026 will likely be for Democrats. It's going to be virtually impossible for Republicans to win those districts this year.
Rather than "Abolish Ice", maybe "Raze and Rebuild ICE". It's hard to come up up with something catchy and accurate that doesn't imply that we're against controlling our borders (inflow of people and materials)
Another possibility is to demand that we have actual, serious discussion about immigration reform. Thr GOP has used immigration as a political tool, without ever doing anything about reform.
No one's saying to open the borders.
Remember that Obama carried out deportations using existing law.
When are we going to talk about the truth that undocumented migrants do jobs that Americans apparently don't want?
Whrn was the last time any of us here saw a landscaping or construction crew composed of strapping white Americans?
You know who works in our local Dunkin Donuts? A crew of courteous, efficient Hispanic women.
Remember too that when Trump was out of office, he killed a bipartisan bill on immigration. Republicans in Congress have been too afraid to cross him for far too long. They simply want to hang on to their seats.
I remember it well, it was in November of 2023. It was a sad day because that bill had been worked on by both parties for a long period of time. Finally comes to the table and they killed it, why? Because trump needed immigration to run on, and if things were going well, he couldn't.
This is where things get childish, repubs killed a bill to appease one man so he could "run on" immigration problems, OR, you let the bill go forward and millions of people are appeased and the border is secured. Only children are supposed to play games like this, not adults.
To me, this is the point where corruption in the Republican party began to be very obvious. They weren't even hiding it anymore, they were bowing and doing what they were told. They still are, and Americans are suffering because of it. In my mind, every Republican in Congress should lose their seats for allowing everything that happened in 2025 to happen.
I mentioned this bill to a Trumper I know, after it was shelved and the answer I got was, “ there was no such bill. Fake news.” WTF….They definitely get their info from a different source than I do!
The whole "fake news" thing is a big lie they like to tell themselves. I always tell them to change up their algorithm and view news from around the world, try a different perspective.
That usually ends the debate/argument right there, because they won't do it and/or indicate that all news is fake. We can thank cable news channels for this problem. Fox news, Newsmax, even CNN blurts out stuff that hasn't been confirmed and they get away with it because they are entertainment networks. They dramatize and spin everything to their advantage, to whoever side they are on.
Those that you finally convince to look outside of trump news, are afraid to see how huge of a blunder they've made, so they start rationalizing things to fight that feeling away - and I get that. But now our country is really at stake, so they all need to man or woman up!
For almost as long as I can remember since the Reagan years one political party has decried any legislation that might give citizenship to people already in this country as "amnesty" and refused to even think about voting for a bill that had something like that.
I couldn't agree with you more. Ignoring the fact that we do need to control the border isn't going to help. It's entirely possible to condemn the tactics of ICE and the CBP without appearing soft on the border. Just loudly condemn the tactics, acknowledge the need for immigration enforcement, point out how ICE *used* to be focused on this task, but it's now been transformed into a paramilitary group of masked, poorly-trained thugs with no clear mission. Illustrate the point with Minnesota- why did Trump dispatch thousands of ICE/CBP agents after learning about a fraudulent scheme when ICE has no role in investigating fraud? We didn't spend decades fighting the cold war to create our own stasi in the US.
I have to disagree. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement": Do we oppose that? "Abolish ICE" actually predated "defund the police," and was similarly a protest sign turned into a cudgel to beat us up with. It fits neatly into the replacement theory/open borders narrative. It's true that since then Trump, Miller and Noem have given us reason to abolish ICE for real, but it is no less a propaganda landmine for us. Just yesterday, someone at the National Review, not the looniest of Right Wing publications, was opining that ICE protests are an attempt to open the border for good. I would suggest reforming ICE, beginning with lopping off its malignant leadership. Once that occurs, rename it if you must.
Yes. Dems need to learn the art of rhetorical jujitsu - steal their strongest argument and make it your own. Tout the need to enforce immigration laws, but point out that's not what ICE is doing. They've detained (and beaten) thousands of US citizens, and have repeatedly been caught lying about it. Point to cases like Miramar Martinez, and the elderly Hmong man who was dragged out of his house in his underwear because ICE was too bumbling to realize their own database showed the guy they wanted was not only already in prison, but subject to a detainer ensuring he'd be deported once he finished his sentence. Highlight the fact the issues we're seeing are a direct result of their incompetence, shoddy training, and mission creep.
"Deport people who are not supposed to be here" is the one issue about which Trump is not underwater in the polls. Their approach does much less well.
Deportations under Biden, Obama and W Bush used to happen on the down low. Their choice to make it all smashing reality teevee seems to have been a mistake.
Immigration law sorely needs to be revised. But let’s-not-support-laws-we-think-are-bad is the Trumpian position. Supporting law while working to change it is the challenge of democracy. And, yes, it’s hard.
The problem is not just the leadership at this point but the agents on the ground. Shooting someone repeatedly as they lay in the street? That sort of behavior isn’t fixed by just cutting off the head. This is a problem of both the people who have been hired and the culture permeating the ranks. And this is the behavior we can see which has been caught in video form, we can only imagine what behavior has not been captured.
ICE is now, by design, rotten to the core, root and branch. I shudder to think about what Border Patrol and ICE are doing when there are no cameras rolling.
Bovino joined CBP in 1996. He was promoted quite a bit, tho also reprimanded and even temporarily relieved of active duty in 2023 for inappropriate behavior. Sadly, he seems made for this unsavory moment.
When I contact Chuck Grassley (Iowa Senator and world’s oldest living fossil) about ICE or related issues, the response I receive on his senate letterhead is filled with “blame Biden for uncontrolled invasions and sanctuary cities for everything”
It’s utter garbage and infuriates me, but I have to assume that it “works” as an appealing message for plenty of Chuck’s constituents.
I would like the message from the proDemocracy side to be that we can control who comes in and out of our borders without resorting to thugs and assassins. If shorthand phrases like “reform ICE” can be made synonymous with “no uncontrolled borders, no uncontrolled border agents”, it would be a winner.
My background is labor. In disciplinary actions, "notice" is one test for just cause--you can't enforce a rule you have not published. I used to argue that routinely flouting rules amounted to reverse notice. That's what's been going on with immigrants without papers. Mostly people looked the other way as business interests maximized profits. I think there needs to be reform that treats those folks fairly.
I can't agree with this. The dumbest political slogan in my lifetime was Defund the Police. Republicans hung that around Democrats' necks for a decade because it fit so perfectly with what most people thought about the Democrats: soft on crime.
I hate what ICE is doing, but I would much rather see a promise that, if elected, Democrats will put in place someone to run ICE who understands 1) its role and 2) that those who committed crimes or malfeasance or violated policies WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE and that 3) anyone who can't deal with the rules governing their employment will be let go.
I agree that Dems shouldn't take the bait to make it seem like we won't enforce the borders - we need to rein in ICE wherever it has become corrupt - that requires putting someone in charge to do a complete overhaul of the culture, root and stem, getting rid of all the incompetent officers, enforcing professional standards strictly, making sure anyone who committed a crime faces justice, restoring them to their proper function and mission again.
From what I read it's the higher up leadership and 3,000 per day quota that's a big factor in distorting ICE the way it has. The remaining good officers recognize their mission is hijacked and their credibility with the public is gone.
What we want to abolish is the corruption. That is harder to do. My guess is if and when a cleanup to restore public trust happens then the rogue officers will leave ICE and join a militia to conspire against the US - there'll also be bad faith attacks from Fox news, taking the side of the rogue officers. Restoring an environment of public accountability will make it hostile for bad actors to remain in ICE I believe so that's my main goal.
And yet, violent crime was already dropping under Democrats. Republicans will lie through their teeth about Democrats anyway, I’m done worrying about what Republicans will say about Democrats. They called Biden a socialist all the while the Trump administration is taking ownership stakes in a dozen private enterprises.
"...the president is dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis..."
Would this be the same Tom Homan caught accepting a $50,000 bribe last year? That one? I'm so relieved! We can certainly count on his scrupulous honesty, can't we?
Homan is, unfortunately part of the problem. He said "I don't accept the term 'error' in Abrego Garcia. There was an oversight, there was a withholding order. But the facts surrounding the withholding order had changed. He is now a terrorist, and the gang he was fearing, from being removed from El Salvador, no longer exists."
I am so happy that General Hertling has joined The Bulwark to lend his perspective on a regular basis. But to offer a contrarian take, maybe ICE is functioning exactly the way Trump wants it to. The goal of ICE is to terrorize and kill Americans. A decent person would look at the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and be horrified at the abuse of state power. Trump looks at those murders and considers it a job well done.
The ICE agents we see on the streets of Minneapolis and in other cities, dressed in military style tactical gear, wearing face masks and driving unmarked vehicles, are not meant to just intimidate the immigrants. They are there, dressed like that, to intimidate the rest of us. To get us to ask ourselves the question, "If I resist what do I stand to lose?" If you find yourself asking that question, the answer is, you've already lost it.
They're not ICE agents, they're a violent, lawless taxpayer-subsidized Republican paramilitary, a terror organization working to destroy the cultures, the economies, and the citizens of Blue America. No honorable citizen of any political perspective--right, left, center, agnostic, you name it--can support these people and this assault on core American principles. Anyone who justifies ICE in this moment had might as well just burn the constitution, because that's what it comes down to.
Here in Minnesota Chris Madel, an aspiring Republican candidate for governor, has withdrawn from the race as a matter of conscience., saying he cannot support the national GOP’s “stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”
Yes on both counts. Mark Hertling is an absolute gem. But this is not really an immigration enforcement project. It is a dry run of a 2-prong program they plan to take nationwide, with one goal of frightening the population into cowed obedience, and a second goal of making sure in November that the voting is nice and secure, such that the count is “fair” and none of the “wrong” people get elected.
If Trump was serious about immigration policy, he would have not pressured the GOP to nix the bipartisan immigration reform bill. He had in mind this kind of enforcement action, because he thinks it makes him tough.
Yeah, I believe Trump loves what's happening in Minnesota. The murders, the beatings, the lack of accountability. This is everything he could have wished for.
Yeah, he did. But the thing that we should understand about Trump and the people cheering this on is they're all fucking weak cowards. Trump has been protected by his family's wealth for his entire life. Guys like Matt Walsh and that ilk would never defend a woman the way Pretti did at the cost of his own life. What do you suppose would happen when the fight landed right in front of them?
I agree. I can see them trying to toss each other in front, more so than actually landing any blows. Trump might try to strike out. Apparently he punched a teacher which is why he was sent to a military-style school.
Trump himself is barely sentient. What's going on in Minneapolis and other blue cities reflects the will of Stephen Miller who (with Russ Vought) is actually running the executive branch. He is, in the old phrase, "Trump's Brain," and God help us all. This madness and lethality reflect Miller's adolescent fantasies running amok more than they do any "executive decision" made by a raging old man who can hardly string two words together. Trump only knows what he's told by his courtiers and cadres.
One ought to remember that Miller was mentored by David Horowitz, a quivering fanatic, a madman fighting off his own demons (including his implication in the murder of a friend back in the 1960s) by demonizing others--Muslims, "leftists," immigrants. Miller was in high school when Horowitz began to mentor him. This is the end result. Horowitz, by extension, is now implicated in more murders than just that of Betty Van Patter.
I agree with you, trump has been caught on camera too many times looking confused at what a reporter was asking him, as if he never heard about it. He's the figure out front and Miller is the brains behind this nightmare. I don't know who David Horowitz is, but I've read enough about Miller to be really scared that he's in charge.
No, he had no direct political role in the administration, although he was an ardent cheerleader for Maga madness and continued to mentor Miller during Trump 1.0, boosting the escalating racist rhetoric and advocating for vile policies like family separation.
I had the same thought. Maybe the administration intends ICE to be an instrument of not just intimidation, but of stochastic terror. Hard to be stochastic if all the goons have to be managed and every action run up the chain.
"It’s fitting, in the wake of Pretti’s killing Saturday, to remember and give thanks for his dedication and sacrifice in the cause of our freedom. And it’s proper that we resolve that he shall not have died in vain."
Thank you for your eloquence at this moment, Bill.
In related news, Utahns seem to be fed up with Mike Lee. Not sure what drove this yesterday but I have to assume it was the Pretti shooting. Take a gander:
Why am I seeing ads for United Health Group mixed into today's Morning Shots? Is this a new Bulwark funding source? As a healthcare provider, I can think of no corporation that creeps me out and at times angers me more than United Health. I understand the Bulwark needs revenue to stay in business, but I don't expect to see ads from corporations like UHG/UHS here!
I'm assuming there will be followup from the Bluwark guys today on this - the "presented by" banner is jarring, and UHG is an ...interesting... pick for a corporate sponsorship.
Bulwark folks - please make sure you explain in multiple channels what's happening with this advertising.
Same. They screwed my wife, a small provider, out of tens of thousands, along with other small providers, by adding reimbursement "hoops" while not letting providers know until they had already seen 5 weeks of patients. Patients that she ended up seeing for "free". They deny something like 36% of claims: Kaiser is at 6% if I remember correctly. What was she going to do: sue UHC?
UHC's job is to take your premium and then deny your claim when you make one. They are a publicly traded version of the insurance company in The Rainmaker.
Not only that, but they’re one of the many Minnesota-based corporations that are currently staying silent about ICE and the murders.
What shockingly poor taste and timing.
Edit: apparently the CEO of UHG did sign a MN Chamber Commerce letter this weekend asking for deescalation, but the letter is short and pathetically tepid. My point still stands.
I'm a paid subscriber and thought that was to keep the Bulwark from needing ads or accepting large donations from philanthropists. This is concerning, regardless of who the advertiser is
Exactly. I chose to upgrade to Founders Tier because I really do believe in the Bulwark and want to support them. I’m not averse to them having any corporate sponsors (and they already do have some in their videos), but it would be nice if they exercised some discretion in who they select. There aren’t many worse options than UHC/UHG. Palantir? Starlink? Seriously, this is pretty bad.
At the very least, I’d like to hear their explanation for this change. If they’re going to tell us how they’re not like other media companies and are all about the mission and the community, they need to be responsive to concerns like this.
I know they have embedded ads in their non-paywalled YouTube videos, but I'm a paid subscriber to avoid all that and I certainly don't expect them to be running ads from the likes of UHG/UHC. As another healthcare provider, the sight of that logo in a place I've come to trust gives me shivers down my spine.
It's an absolute violation of trust and of the promise behind the site: that they would remain independent, that they would give us their honest and unvarnished opinions, and in return we readers would support them because we value the work.
You're telling me I'm paying $10 a month just for these people to collect the bag from the very same people who routinely deny me medication I need to function? Who force my doctor to work overtime just to get them to approve some routine bloodwork? No, no, I'm sorry I'm not going to accept that without pushing back.
Interesting. FWIW, reading Morning Shots in my email shows no ads at all.
But I agree with another poster, I would like some official explanation of if the Bulwark is now soliciting advertising and what that means for the independence of their publication. The Bulwark has expanded alot recently and while I appreciate the new voices and new coverage I also do not want their independence compromised by becoming reliant on advertising to keep the lights on.
I wonder if it’s just in the Substack app & website. I read all the newsletters in the app (too many emails in my inbox!!), so that’s where I saw the ads.
If I as a broke college student am still being asked to pay $10 a month to access this while The Bulwark is taking checks from one of the most evil corporations that doesn't actively make landmines, I don't know what we're doing here anymore.
Bulwarkers love to make noise about how virtuous their independent status makes them. This is gross.
There is no way that MN passed laws that can comprehensively protect you from all the bad things UHG has been known to do. They may have targeted the most egregious of the offenses, but there is so much more awful stuff UHG does that is almost certainly unaddressed.
Fine, whatever. I think you’re being naive, but we can agree to disagree. I don’t see what this has to do with Bulwark accepting them as a sponsor. If anything, it makes the sponsorship WORSE. This is a company so bad that the state had to pass legislation protecting its citizens from the company??
Portland, Oregon. My partner is a doctor, and even though his specialty is relatively insulated from the worst insurance issues, I’ve heard plenty of awful stuff from him. I promise you that the shit insurance companies like UHC/UHG do is worse than you can imagine.
When this administration is gone, there needs to be something akin to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Allowing Miller, Noem, Patel, Bondi, Blanche, et al to simply find work as shills for Fox News or some RW lobby would continue to ignore a very deep vein of horrible.
Accountability has to be swift and severe if this Country is to survive intact. (I have my doubts that is likely, but I think we should try)
In my view, Mary, anyone who believes they're not bound by the law forfeits their moral and philosophical claims of protection under the law. On that basis, those you mentioned should be dealt with accordingly.
Tim, I get your anger but am also deeply concerned about the implications of your proposed approach.
Seriously: If this is where the pro-democracy movement is going then I'm getting off the bus right now. There can be no exceptions to the exercising of the rule of law.
Then how do you propose to deal with people who've taken advantage of all America had to offer them only to ascend to power and use that power to terrorize their fellow citizens? Our systems of checks and balances has failed, Steve. Miller, for example, may argue that he was acting on orders from the president, and those orders could fall under the "official act" definition that SCOTUS carved out for him 18 months ago. How are you going to feel if Miller et. al. walks free after all they've done?
You reform the system so that it functions properly. My bet is that ethical short cuts you decide to take will backfire. Have you ever studied the French revolution?
If you are willing to let your anger override your judgment, knock yourself off. However, you've lost me.
With benefit of hindsight it was a mistake to entrust DoJ to milquetoast Merrick Garland. But in 2020 it looked like Trump had committed political suicide. No one foresaw that if we didn’t act quickly he’d run out the clock and get himself re-elected. It’s easy in retrospect to see that we should have waged lawfare as aggressively as possible.
If a person is against Trump and also for abandoning the rule of law, then such a person is merely looking for a replacement dictator; one that is personally more palatable.
And, Tim, of course you know that a fish stinks from the head, and that this "head" has said that he only needs to listen to his own (gag, choke, can't swallow) "Morality". If asked what he meant by that word, he would probably "clarify" that he forgot the "t" between the "r" and "a".
We can prepare for accountability, but the pardon of these fascists and propaganda shills are likely prepared, signed, and locked in Eagle Ed Martin's file cabinet, to be issued whenever the need becomes apparent.
The pardons are only good for federal charges. Murder in all its shadings is a statutory crime for which all concerned may be hunted down till the end of time.
Nuremburg trials is more like it. The leadership and everyone down the chain of command to the shooters on the ground need to face criminal charges. No exceptions. Truth and Reconciliation is for community healing, and that will be hard enough. As Vaclav Havel has written, the two things aren't always compatible, and sometimes they are simply at odds. But that comes later. Criminal accountability is another thing entirely, and I don't see how we get truth or reconciliation without it
We’ve learned what happens when accountability is sluggish and lax. The wrongdoers run down the clock until the Republicans control the government again.
Exactly. I am not counting on the leadership we have in today's Dem party to do what should be done. They are feckless and can't deliver a message and need to stop being pushovers. We need maga republicans held accountable immediately. It needs to happen fast. Hopefully soon, we will have new leadership we can count on. Mark Kelly comes to mind.
It is remarkable that Bill Kristol, someone who was a Republican, is advocating for filibuster in the senate of the funding bill until this assault on citizens is stopped. Only the people who are willing to believe lies are finding excuses for what happened in Minneapolis. Everyone else who is lucid is dejected and revolted by the violent lawless actions of CPB and ICE, and the abject lies by Kristi Noem, Gregory Bovino, Stephen Miller, and Scott Bessent. The rush to provide a completely bogus narrative minutes after the execution of Alex Pretti (and Renee Good a couple of weeks ago) reeks not only of propaganda, but obstruction of justice plain and simple. In time, all these people will have to held accountable. But this week, the Democrats in Congress must meet the moment and stand with the majority of the country who says "enough!".
"The rush to provide a completely bogus narrative minutes after the execution of Alex Pretti (and Renee Good a couple of weeks ago) reeks not only of propaganda, but obstruction of justice plain and simple." Exactly!
Hertling's comparison of ICE to soldiers and evaluation of their tactics as soldiers is appropriate, because ICE is not acting like law enforcement. They're a paramilitary force, both in how they dress, but also in what their mission is -- violently, with impunity, to own the libs. Law enforcers are public servants who serve the public. ICE are masked partisans who view the citizens of Minneapolis as enemy combatants.
There's a chilling moment in one of the videos where one of the ICE agents is clapping after the others fire 10+ rounds into the prone and lifeless body of Pretti.
The violence is done in broad daylight because that is their goal, that's what they were sent to do. They were clapping after murdering Pretti because they had achieved their mission.
Re: "...the president is dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis..."
Yeah. Great. Like that'll help. That's what the situation calls for: a bullet-headed, mush-mouthed dipshit who, if he wasn't Donald Trump's poodle, would be facing bribery charges for taking $50,000 in cash in a Cava bag from a guy he thought was paying him off for official acts (and who was really an FBI agent).
Hey, he has to look like he is doing something to "straighten out" the situation and what would a normal dictator do? Send in the czar! The problem is that Homan, on a moral, humane scale, is a czardine.
Why do authoritarians put out those ridiculous "election" results - you know the 98% to 2% ones? Is it to convince the population of the legitimacy of their rule? No. It is an act of intimidation with the unmistakable message that reality is what we say it is.
Same with Bovino and Noem and the rest. Their claims are such an affront to good sense and basic logic that the unmistakable message is this: We do not wish to be reasonable. We don't have to be reasonable. No one can make us be reasonable. Power is all and we have it.
"Fox News reports that many in the White House are growing 'increasingly uneasy and frustrated' with the Department of Homeland Security’s posture toward Minneapolis, which they say has been 'catastrophic from a PR and morale perspective.'"
The rest of us say it's been "catastrophic" from a "moral" perspective.
Yes, the ad really offends me: United Health is ethically quite challenged in denying health care to their customers; and I pay my Founders $ to Bulwark for unbiased clear thinking. Ads make me question if that's what I'm getting.
Exactly. It’s one thing to sit through ads on YouTube (Bulwark’s ads, not YouTube’s. I pay good money to avoid those. lol) when I see some Bulwark content while scrolling the app. It’s quite another to be confronted with this crap when I’m already paying for a subscription.
Jessica Yellin, on her podcast, asked Anne Applebaum at the beginning of this Trump administration, “How do we know when it’s time to flee?” Applebaum’s answer: “When the killing starts”.
The killing started long ago...it's just now they're killing white, middle-class Americans. It feels different to some of us, but as the SNL skit with Kenan Thompson and Teyana Taylor brilliantly demonstrated this weekend, it's not new to all Americans.
A very salient point. I’ve encountered it in opinion pieces and forum comments. It all fits; the violence and the subsequent lying is very familiar to minorities; a way of life, a constant presence of threat. Teaching children how to avoid “trouble”. Truth is, I’ve used flags as an underhanded way to avoid trouble myself, as a woman living alone; the psychology being that the biggest threat to my safety was from a certain type of white male, and I could appease them with the flags.
We are so beyond the break glass moment, and I hope democrats realize that ICE cannot be reformed. It must taken down root and branch. And we need to see them lead the charge on this.
Back in 2020 I thought “Defund the Police” was going too far and was a loser politically. But ICE has radicalized me. “Abolish ICE” is the moderate position. Stringing up ICE officers like Mussolini at the end is the radical position. Every Democrat who moves to fund DHS in the minibus should be primaried. There is no reforming this. It needs to be razed entirely and salt the earth on which it stood.
The whole administration has to go through something like the Nuremberg Trials. They have to go to prison. All the Trumps, Kushner's, etc. must face justice. Or rescind their citizenship, strip them of everything they own and then drop them all into Somalian jails. All except for those under 18.
We can hold the Nuremberg 2.0 trials in Trump's obscene WH ballroom and then take a wrecking ball to it after.
How about a good old fashioned chain-gang. Love to see Steven Miller hositing a pick axe.
How's the joke go? Miller looks like the kind of guy who only went into government service because he lacked the arm strength to strangle prostitutes.
(To be clear, this was a graffiti joke about appearances, not a factual assertion about his actions.)
God forgive my that made me laugh.
Rob do you really think Heinrich Miller could lift a pick axe? Let's just chain him to a rock in the desert and leave him out in the sun.
Too quick by a long way
Nice pipe dream; it requires muscles, and the only ones he has are in his jaws.
That's so he can unhinge his jaws so that he can swallow his prey whole.
Finally, a justification for building the Epstein Ballroom! It can be our Nuremberg site.
Amen. Send these monsters to CECOT. [Or perhaps a black site in some 'shithole country'?]
Don't tempt me! I already dream of the impeachment of President Loose Cannon and his entire sorry sycophantic crew. Then, we ship all of them off to a gulag in some remote, desolate place.
I completely agree.
How do you take a wrecking ball to a nonexistent pile of rubble?
If we're supposed to be fighting for the restoration of the rule of law, then how it is appropriate to drop American citizens into Somalian jails?
The whole set up is TO FLAUNT THE RULE OF LAW
Killers go free
Terrorize regular people
The people are not protected by any law anymore
I fear the whole set-up is simply a dress rehearsal for ignoring the midterms and not having an election in 2028 with the infrastructure already in place. Congratulations, Congress you are the Politburo.
Frightening, we must fight to prevent that from happening
Our job is to restore the rule of law. We can't do that if we take ethical shortcuts.
Absolutely, Steve. There is no point in being them to oust them. We can't restore the Constitution by ignoring it ourselves. That's what separates us from them. Shed tears and raise hue and cry for flag burning or kneeling during the anthem, but look the other way when the Constitution is being decimated. How about pledging allegiance to the Constitution.
I think the “Somali jails” bit is venting frustration at total vindictiveness.
Agreed. Even so, I think we need to be better than that. Otherwise we could fuel a vindictiveness cycle that never ends.
Better rhetorical than literal. Turn the other cheek doesn’t come naturally.
It's "Somali," not "Somalian," friends.
And it's flout, not flaunt.
I thought that at first, but upon further reflection it feels to me like either applies in that sentence regarding this regime.
I think they’re exaggerating because they’re frustrated. Surely no one really thinks that could possibly happen?
I agree. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and given appropriate punishments. I do not want to treat anybody as these goons have been treating people, even the goons themselves. I do not want to be them. Please keep that in mind, Bulwarkers.
Not appropriate, but much deserved. Hyperbole, people.
Give them the chance to defend themselves in court in front of a jury of their peers and if they are found guilty, send them to jail. That is the restoration of the rule of law. The location of the jail is irrelevant. If it bothers you too much, call it deportation.
Deporting American citizens? I thought only the bad guys did that?
If you don't like calling it deportation, call it something else. Isn't that the precedent? Or send them to the US prison colony in Guantanamo.
I would suggest that one of the biggest dangers confronting a pro-democracy movement is that it becomes like its oppressors. And that's what you are essentially proposing.
If we're going to start giving up our principles this early in the process, then I shudder to think what kinds of things will be said in Bulwark comments three or four years down the road, when people's anger with the Trump regime will likely be much higher.
If this is the road people are intent to go down, I'm stepping off the bus.
Do you mean Salvadodan?
I know it sounds wildly conspiratorial, but I figured part of the rationale behind the Venezuelan "regime change" was to set up a...Plan B... for the higher-ups. The Mar a Lago set was hardly going to tolerate the weather in Saint Petersburg.
They got rid of one socialist oppressive government, replaced it with another that was socialist oppressive government personally loyal to them, and tried to set up income streams. I think it has at least crossed the administration's minds' that things might go very far south for them.
I mean Trump started musing about how invading Venezuela, the top brass and the media replied "Venezuela would be so hard to invade! So much coast! Such dense cities! So much dense jungle." And Trump's response was "okay, now we totally have to do a regime change." And then he did.
I've considered this as well. Glad I'm not the only person imagining this end game.
Was the regime changed at all? The VP was elected along with Maduro so I would assume that the regime is still in place. Were other officials removed, or fired? I think this was a case where someone wanted to see some action, some blowing up of something, and dramatic video footage.
Alternately, that deal with Argentina and the two planes Noem bought were for a ratline. Again, sounds wildly conspiratorial, but lo
ok where we are at.
The age of the incarcerated to be, or the jails?
I agree with that. Authoritarians understand force - don't be public about your allegiances or you'll end up in the same predicament as your fascist leaders.
I thought "Defund the Police" was stupid until I saw police in Uvalde standing around armed to the teeth and yet unable to work up the gumption to stop a man shooting and terrorizing a classroom of fourth graders--for 45 minutes! They should all have resigned in disgraced.
And now ICE is treating everyone holding up a cellphone as if they're enemies of the people. I agree. It needs to be abolished.
I also realize now that what ICE is doing to protesters and immigrants is a taste of what black Americans were angry at the police about in 2020. We're just seeing law enforcement (for last of a better term) craziness and injustice on a larger scale now.
This is a culture issue that is rooted in the history of American policing which had/has often about enforcing class and race. There was also an insidious militarization of the police after 911 with the military offloading more and more tactical equipment which had not place in domestic police forces. This has resulted in police forces who tend to see the public as any enemy and themselves as a distinct class constantly under threat of violence when they are not. We need honest conversations about what community policing should look like and that police are a service employed by the community.
Everyone should read Radley Balko's book "Rise of the Warrior Cop." It was written in 2013, but it's still relevant today, and discusses just those issues you have mentioned.
Yes, this law enforcement style is what was protested in 2020.
What we are seeing now in the response by ICE, CBP, whatever is what a segment of our society wanted to see in response to protests of 2020...bear spray into the face, shoving people around, shooting them. I fear that a segment of our society thinks this is what law enforcement should be doing in general.
We can already name the House Democrats who voted to continue funding DHS. Henry Cuellar of Texas is in no danger of losing his primary (Trump recently pardoned him and saved his political career...which was odd since he's a Democrat, but maybe it proved to be a good investment in this case). Jared Golden of Maine is retiring. I don't know much about the rest.
1. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
2. Tom Suozzi (D-NY)
3. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX)
4. Laura Gillen (D-NY)
5. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA)
6. Jared Golden (D-ME-retiring)
7. Don Davis (D-NC)
Gluesenkamp Perez runs in a red district and her opponent the last two cycles has at least been nazi curious
Yikes, well a Gestapo-tolerant Gluesenkamp Perez might be better than her Nazi-curious opponent.
I suggest taking that insight and becoming more circumspect in the rush to oust Democrats. Concentrate instead on unseating the almost universally Trump compliant Republicans.
I am more interested in how they vote when the issue comes up again.
They should get no dispensation for voting on the previous funding bill. ICE had been here a month or more at that point and Renee Good was still being called a professional agitator, oh and dead.
Gillen and Suozzi are in Trump friendly Long Island districts - recently held by the GOP. Really had no realistic choice - or they would be branded “defund the police”.
There's always a choice...just sayin' (I did it myself in a professional unethical situation, leaving $$$ on the table.) Tough moral decisions are just that, tough and moral.
Yes, there is ALWAYS a choice. Saying "I (or he or she or they) had no choice" is not true and a cop-out. The choice you make reveals very clearly what your real values are.
Yes. You can choose to keep the seat Democratic or choose to surrender it to Republicans. We can’t afford brain-dead purity tests.
If the Democrat in the seat always votes with the Republican and never the Dems, what's the point, really?
Always? Never?
While I may agree with those quite often, but I highly doubt a majority in their districts support ICE tactics. Plus, 2026 is likely to be a very good year for Democrats. They don't have anything to worry about.
They must do what is right anyway. There is always a choice and if you are choosing to fund thuggish goons, you are complicit.
Fortunately he answers to his voters, not the commentariat.
Gillen came out quickly with “Noem must be impeached “ statement. Seems she wants to atone for her funding vote. One could hope that is her reason, at least-
I think they had a choice given how good a year 2026 will likely be for Democrats. It's going to be virtually impossible for Republicans to win those districts this year.
When will they pass the Enabling Act?
They'd have to nuke the filibuster first, so watch this space.
100%.
There is no rehabilitating this mess. It started out iffy, now rotted to the core.
Rather than "Abolish Ice", maybe "Raze and Rebuild ICE". It's hard to come up up with something catchy and accurate that doesn't imply that we're against controlling our borders (inflow of people and materials)
Another possibility is to demand that we have actual, serious discussion about immigration reform. Thr GOP has used immigration as a political tool, without ever doing anything about reform.
No one's saying to open the borders.
Remember that Obama carried out deportations using existing law.
When are we going to talk about the truth that undocumented migrants do jobs that Americans apparently don't want?
Whrn was the last time any of us here saw a landscaping or construction crew composed of strapping white Americans?
You know who works in our local Dunkin Donuts? A crew of courteous, efficient Hispanic women.
Remember too that when Trump was out of office, he killed a bipartisan bill on immigration. Republicans in Congress have been too afraid to cross him for far too long. They simply want to hang on to their seats.
I remember it well, it was in November of 2023. It was a sad day because that bill had been worked on by both parties for a long period of time. Finally comes to the table and they killed it, why? Because trump needed immigration to run on, and if things were going well, he couldn't.
This is where things get childish, repubs killed a bill to appease one man so he could "run on" immigration problems, OR, you let the bill go forward and millions of people are appeased and the border is secured. Only children are supposed to play games like this, not adults.
To me, this is the point where corruption in the Republican party began to be very obvious. They weren't even hiding it anymore, they were bowing and doing what they were told. They still are, and Americans are suffering because of it. In my mind, every Republican in Congress should lose their seats for allowing everything that happened in 2025 to happen.
I mentioned this bill to a Trumper I know, after it was shelved and the answer I got was, “ there was no such bill. Fake news.” WTF….They definitely get their info from a different source than I do!
The whole "fake news" thing is a big lie they like to tell themselves. I always tell them to change up their algorithm and view news from around the world, try a different perspective.
That usually ends the debate/argument right there, because they won't do it and/or indicate that all news is fake. We can thank cable news channels for this problem. Fox news, Newsmax, even CNN blurts out stuff that hasn't been confirmed and they get away with it because they are entertainment networks. They dramatize and spin everything to their advantage, to whoever side they are on.
Those that you finally convince to look outside of trump news, are afraid to see how huge of a blunder they've made, so they start rationalizing things to fight that feeling away - and I get that. But now our country is really at stake, so they all need to man or woman up!
For almost as long as I can remember since the Reagan years one political party has decried any legislation that might give citizenship to people already in this country as "amnesty" and refused to even think about voting for a bill that had something like that.
I couldn't agree with you more. Ignoring the fact that we do need to control the border isn't going to help. It's entirely possible to condemn the tactics of ICE and the CBP without appearing soft on the border. Just loudly condemn the tactics, acknowledge the need for immigration enforcement, point out how ICE *used* to be focused on this task, but it's now been transformed into a paramilitary group of masked, poorly-trained thugs with no clear mission. Illustrate the point with Minnesota- why did Trump dispatch thousands of ICE/CBP agents after learning about a fraudulent scheme when ICE has no role in investigating fraud? We didn't spend decades fighting the cold war to create our own stasi in the US.
Start calling them by the more accurate TST (Trump Storm Troopers) and point out that for this crowd, ICE stands for I Create Emergencies.
ICE Storm Troopers
Break up ICE has a nice marketing ring to it.
Crush Ice sounds a bit meaner, I like where your thinking is going!
"Make ICE NICE." (I kid...)
I have to disagree. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement": Do we oppose that? "Abolish ICE" actually predated "defund the police," and was similarly a protest sign turned into a cudgel to beat us up with. It fits neatly into the replacement theory/open borders narrative. It's true that since then Trump, Miller and Noem have given us reason to abolish ICE for real, but it is no less a propaganda landmine for us. Just yesterday, someone at the National Review, not the looniest of Right Wing publications, was opining that ICE protests are an attempt to open the border for good. I would suggest reforming ICE, beginning with lopping off its malignant leadership. Once that occurs, rename it if you must.
Yes. Dems need to learn the art of rhetorical jujitsu - steal their strongest argument and make it your own. Tout the need to enforce immigration laws, but point out that's not what ICE is doing. They've detained (and beaten) thousands of US citizens, and have repeatedly been caught lying about it. Point to cases like Miramar Martinez, and the elderly Hmong man who was dragged out of his house in his underwear because ICE was too bumbling to realize their own database showed the guy they wanted was not only already in prison, but subject to a detainer ensuring he'd be deported once he finished his sentence. Highlight the fact the issues we're seeing are a direct result of their incompetence, shoddy training, and mission creep.
"Deport people who are not supposed to be here" is the one issue about which Trump is not underwater in the polls. Their approach does much less well.
Deportations under Biden, Obama and W Bush used to happen on the down low. Their choice to make it all smashing reality teevee seems to have been a mistake.
We should support the rule of law everywhere, at the border, in our cities, and by our elected officials.
Yes, but it's hard to support the rule of laws that clearly need to be revised: US Immigration.
Immigration law sorely needs to be revised. But let’s-not-support-laws-we-think-are-bad is the Trumpian position. Supporting law while working to change it is the challenge of democracy. And, yes, it’s hard.
National Review that endorsed Trump after Jan 6?
Yep. They walk a find line, with about half talking about what a choad Trump is and the rest sane-washing what he does.
"Raze and Rebuild ICE"?
By a NEW GOVERNMENT that respects THE RULE OF LAW
Not create ANARCHY
The problem is not just the leadership at this point but the agents on the ground. Shooting someone repeatedly as they lay in the street? That sort of behavior isn’t fixed by just cutting off the head. This is a problem of both the people who have been hired and the culture permeating the ranks. And this is the behavior we can see which has been caught in video form, we can only imagine what behavior has not been captured.
ICE is now, by design, rotten to the core, root and branch. I shudder to think about what Border Patrol and ICE are doing when there are no cameras rolling.
I find it hard to believe that there are not some from prior to 2025 who are as bummed as some FBI agents are.
Bovino joined CBP in 1996. He was promoted quite a bit, tho also reprimanded and even temporarily relieved of active duty in 2023 for inappropriate behavior. Sadly, he seems made for this unsavory moment.
When I contact Chuck Grassley (Iowa Senator and world’s oldest living fossil) about ICE or related issues, the response I receive on his senate letterhead is filled with “blame Biden for uncontrolled invasions and sanctuary cities for everything”
It’s utter garbage and infuriates me, but I have to assume that it “works” as an appealing message for plenty of Chuck’s constituents.
I would like the message from the proDemocracy side to be that we can control who comes in and out of our borders without resorting to thugs and assassins. If shorthand phrases like “reform ICE” can be made synonymous with “no uncontrolled borders, no uncontrolled border agents”, it would be a winner.
My background is labor. In disciplinary actions, "notice" is one test for just cause--you can't enforce a rule you have not published. I used to argue that routinely flouting rules amounted to reverse notice. That's what's been going on with immigrants without papers. Mostly people looked the other way as business interests maximized profits. I think there needs to be reform that treats those folks fairly.
I can't agree with this. The dumbest political slogan in my lifetime was Defund the Police. Republicans hung that around Democrats' necks for a decade because it fit so perfectly with what most people thought about the Democrats: soft on crime.
I hate what ICE is doing, but I would much rather see a promise that, if elected, Democrats will put in place someone to run ICE who understands 1) its role and 2) that those who committed crimes or malfeasance or violated policies WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE and that 3) anyone who can't deal with the rules governing their employment will be let go.
I agree that Dems shouldn't take the bait to make it seem like we won't enforce the borders - we need to rein in ICE wherever it has become corrupt - that requires putting someone in charge to do a complete overhaul of the culture, root and stem, getting rid of all the incompetent officers, enforcing professional standards strictly, making sure anyone who committed a crime faces justice, restoring them to their proper function and mission again.
From what I read it's the higher up leadership and 3,000 per day quota that's a big factor in distorting ICE the way it has. The remaining good officers recognize their mission is hijacked and their credibility with the public is gone.
What we want to abolish is the corruption. That is harder to do. My guess is if and when a cleanup to restore public trust happens then the rogue officers will leave ICE and join a militia to conspire against the US - there'll also be bad faith attacks from Fox news, taking the side of the rogue officers. Restoring an environment of public accountability will make it hostile for bad actors to remain in ICE I believe so that's my main goal.
And yet, violent crime was already dropping under Democrats. Republicans will lie through their teeth about Democrats anyway, I’m done worrying about what Republicans will say about Democrats. They called Biden a socialist all the while the Trump administration is taking ownership stakes in a dozen private enterprises.
"...the president is dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis..."
Would this be the same Tom Homan caught accepting a $50,000 bribe last year? That one? I'm so relieved! We can certainly count on his scrupulous honesty, can't we?
Are there Cava's in the twin cities ??
I was looking at pictures of Holman and Bull Connor. Bull looks at least 30% more affable.
Homan is, unfortunately part of the problem. He said "I don't accept the term 'error' in Abrego Garcia. There was an oversight, there was a withholding order. But the facts surrounding the withholding order had changed. He is now a terrorist, and the gang he was fearing, from being removed from El Salvador, no longer exists."
Exactly the fair-minded, non-judgmental, impartial kind of guy you'd expect the chump administration to send to oversee this debacle.
Yes, it’s difficult to believe he will be a moderating influence.
HAHA....YOU BET
Tom Homan isn’t going to solve one damn thing….he just brings a whole lot of more trouble!!!
I had the exact same thought when I saw that headline. "Oh yea, the guy who takes bribes in his fast casual restaurant is going to fix this!"
I am so happy that General Hertling has joined The Bulwark to lend his perspective on a regular basis. But to offer a contrarian take, maybe ICE is functioning exactly the way Trump wants it to. The goal of ICE is to terrorize and kill Americans. A decent person would look at the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and be horrified at the abuse of state power. Trump looks at those murders and considers it a job well done.
The ICE agents we see on the streets of Minneapolis and in other cities, dressed in military style tactical gear, wearing face masks and driving unmarked vehicles, are not meant to just intimidate the immigrants. They are there, dressed like that, to intimidate the rest of us. To get us to ask ourselves the question, "If I resist what do I stand to lose?" If you find yourself asking that question, the answer is, you've already lost it.
They're not ICE agents, they're a violent, lawless taxpayer-subsidized Republican paramilitary, a terror organization working to destroy the cultures, the economies, and the citizens of Blue America. No honorable citizen of any political perspective--right, left, center, agnostic, you name it--can support these people and this assault on core American principles. Anyone who justifies ICE in this moment had might as well just burn the constitution, because that's what it comes down to.
Here in Minnesota Chris Madel, an aspiring Republican candidate for governor, has withdrawn from the race as a matter of conscience., saying he cannot support the national GOP’s “stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”
Political courage, maybe it will catch on in the GOP.
From your mouth to God's ear, I pray you're right.
I'm at the point where I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees. Doesn't mean I'm not frightened because I most certainly am.
courage is not absence of fear, but action despite fear
MAGA says standing up to ICE is equivalent to jumping into a lion’s cage. No pity. You did it to yourself.
Yes on both counts. Mark Hertling is an absolute gem. But this is not really an immigration enforcement project. It is a dry run of a 2-prong program they plan to take nationwide, with one goal of frightening the population into cowed obedience, and a second goal of making sure in November that the voting is nice and secure, such that the count is “fair” and none of the “wrong” people get elected.
Indeed. Hence Bondi's request for Minnesota voter rolls. Gee, I wonder what she's going to do with them ...
Exactly. He's doing exactly what he enjoys doing. Look up Sascha Riley for a real eye-opener about who is running this country.
Already know who is running this country without looking up Sascha Riley……and it ain’t Fuckwit Trump……
If Trump was serious about immigration policy, he would have not pressured the GOP to nix the bipartisan immigration reform bill. He had in mind this kind of enforcement action, because he thinks it makes him tough.
Yeah, I believe Trump loves what's happening in Minnesota. The murders, the beatings, the lack of accountability. This is everything he could have wished for.
Didn't he say a few times something to the effect that cops don't need to be nice and careful? If some of the apprehended were injured, oh well.
Yeah, he did. But the thing that we should understand about Trump and the people cheering this on is they're all fucking weak cowards. Trump has been protected by his family's wealth for his entire life. Guys like Matt Walsh and that ilk would never defend a woman the way Pretti did at the cost of his own life. What do you suppose would happen when the fight landed right in front of them?
I agree. I can see them trying to toss each other in front, more so than actually landing any blows. Trump might try to strike out. Apparently he punched a teacher which is why he was sent to a military-style school.
Trump himself is barely sentient. What's going on in Minneapolis and other blue cities reflects the will of Stephen Miller who (with Russ Vought) is actually running the executive branch. He is, in the old phrase, "Trump's Brain," and God help us all. This madness and lethality reflect Miller's adolescent fantasies running amok more than they do any "executive decision" made by a raging old man who can hardly string two words together. Trump only knows what he's told by his courtiers and cadres.
One ought to remember that Miller was mentored by David Horowitz, a quivering fanatic, a madman fighting off his own demons (including his implication in the murder of a friend back in the 1960s) by demonizing others--Muslims, "leftists," immigrants. Miller was in high school when Horowitz began to mentor him. This is the end result. Horowitz, by extension, is now implicated in more murders than just that of Betty Van Patter.
I agree with you, trump has been caught on camera too many times looking confused at what a reporter was asking him, as if he never heard about it. He's the figure out front and Miller is the brains behind this nightmare. I don't know who David Horowitz is, but I've read enough about Miller to be really scared that he's in charge.
Wasn't Horowitz the ambassador to Israel during Trump 1.0?
No, he had no direct political role in the administration, although he was an ardent cheerleader for Maga madness and continued to mentor Miller during Trump 1.0, boosting the escalating racist rhetoric and advocating for vile policies like family separation.
Right on: murders are fine; bad PR about the murders unforgiveable.
I had the same thought. Maybe the administration intends ICE to be an instrument of not just intimidation, but of stochastic terror. Hard to be stochastic if all the goons have to be managed and every action run up the chain.
The system is working as it was designed.
"It’s fitting, in the wake of Pretti’s killing Saturday, to remember and give thanks for his dedication and sacrifice in the cause of our freedom. And it’s proper that we resolve that he shall not have died in vain."
Thank you for your eloquence at this moment, Bill.
Make Republicans own this. Make them vote against our wellbeing, and hold them accountable for it.
In related news, Utahns seem to be fed up with Mike Lee. Not sure what drove this yesterday but I have to assume it was the Pretti shooting. Take a gander:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DT855ydEYXa/
Thanks for sharing!
Why am I seeing ads for United Health Group mixed into today's Morning Shots? Is this a new Bulwark funding source? As a healthcare provider, I can think of no corporation that creeps me out and at times angers me more than United Health. I understand the Bulwark needs revenue to stay in business, but I don't expect to see ads from corporations like UHG/UHS here!
I'm assuming there will be followup from the Bluwark guys today on this - the "presented by" banner is jarring, and UHG is an ...interesting... pick for a corporate sponsorship.
Bulwark folks - please make sure you explain in multiple channels what's happening with this advertising.
Same. They screwed my wife, a small provider, out of tens of thousands, along with other small providers, by adding reimbursement "hoops" while not letting providers know until they had already seen 5 weeks of patients. Patients that she ended up seeing for "free". They deny something like 36% of claims: Kaiser is at 6% if I remember correctly. What was she going to do: sue UHC?
UHC's job is to take your premium and then deny your claim when you make one. They are a publicly traded version of the insurance company in The Rainmaker.
I was coming here to ask the same thing. I thought The Bulwark was 100% independent and reader-supported.
Not only that, but they’re one of the many Minnesota-based corporations that are currently staying silent about ICE and the murders.
What shockingly poor taste and timing.
Edit: apparently the CEO of UHG did sign a MN Chamber Commerce letter this weekend asking for deescalation, but the letter is short and pathetically tepid. My point still stands.
It was a bit jarring to see this ad, particularly to see "Presented by United Healthcare" above the picture of Alex Pretti.
It felt pretty gross and disrespectful. Extremely poor taste.
I'm a paid subscriber and thought that was to keep the Bulwark from needing ads or accepting large donations from philanthropists. This is concerning, regardless of who the advertiser is
Exactly. I chose to upgrade to Founders Tier because I really do believe in the Bulwark and want to support them. I’m not averse to them having any corporate sponsors (and they already do have some in their videos), but it would be nice if they exercised some discretion in who they select. There aren’t many worse options than UHC/UHG. Palantir? Starlink? Seriously, this is pretty bad.
At the very least, I’d like to hear their explanation for this change. If they’re going to tell us how they’re not like other media companies and are all about the mission and the community, they need to be responsive to concerns like this.
I know they have embedded ads in their non-paywalled YouTube videos, but I'm a paid subscriber to avoid all that and I certainly don't expect them to be running ads from the likes of UHG/UHC. As another healthcare provider, the sight of that logo in a place I've come to trust gives me shivers down my spine.
It's an absolute violation of trust and of the promise behind the site: that they would remain independent, that they would give us their honest and unvarnished opinions, and in return we readers would support them because we value the work.
You're telling me I'm paying $10 a month just for these people to collect the bag from the very same people who routinely deny me medication I need to function? Who force my doctor to work overtime just to get them to approve some routine bloodwork? No, no, I'm sorry I'm not going to accept that without pushing back.
Interesting. FWIW, reading Morning Shots in my email shows no ads at all.
But I agree with another poster, I would like some official explanation of if the Bulwark is now soliciting advertising and what that means for the independence of their publication. The Bulwark has expanded alot recently and while I appreciate the new voices and new coverage I also do not want their independence compromised by becoming reliant on advertising to keep the lights on.
I wonder if it’s just in the Substack app & website. I read all the newsletters in the app (too many emails in my inbox!!), so that’s where I saw the ads.
If I as a broke college student am still being asked to pay $10 a month to access this while The Bulwark is taking checks from one of the most evil corporations that doesn't actively make landmines, I don't know what we're doing here anymore.
Bulwarkers love to make noise about how virtuous their independent status makes them. This is gross.
well, from what I've learned MN passed laws to protect us from the bad and
odd things United Health Group has been known to do. not sure about elsewhere
There is no way that MN passed laws that can comprehensively protect you from all the bad things UHG has been known to do. They may have targeted the most egregious of the offenses, but there is so much more awful stuff UHG does that is almost certainly unaddressed.
they did LIMIT what they could do , and did warn citizens
Fine, whatever. I think you’re being naive, but we can agree to disagree. I don’t see what this has to do with Bulwark accepting them as a sponsor. If anything, it makes the sponsorship WORSE. This is a company so bad that the state had to pass legislation protecting its citizens from the company??
I despise that company or corporation, for a few years they were abusing us here in Mn, that ended about four years ago. very few ads here in MN
Not naive, I'm seventy, it concerns me, they have been an awful outfit
I don't know where you live but it is very true that Minn catches this stuff pretty fast. Very progressive
Portland, Oregon. My partner is a doctor, and even though his specialty is relatively insulated from the worst insurance issues, I’ve heard plenty of awful stuff from him. I promise you that the shit insurance companies like UHC/UHG do is worse than you can imagine.
When this administration is gone, there needs to be something akin to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Allowing Miller, Noem, Patel, Bondi, Blanche, et al to simply find work as shills for Fox News or some RW lobby would continue to ignore a very deep vein of horrible.
Accountability has to be swift and severe if this Country is to survive intact. (I have my doubts that is likely, but I think we should try)
In my view, Mary, anyone who believes they're not bound by the law forfeits their moral and philosophical claims of protection under the law. On that basis, those you mentioned should be dealt with accordingly.
Tim, I get your anger but am also deeply concerned about the implications of your proposed approach.
Seriously: If this is where the pro-democracy movement is going then I'm getting off the bus right now. There can be no exceptions to the exercising of the rule of law.
Then how do you propose to deal with people who've taken advantage of all America had to offer them only to ascend to power and use that power to terrorize their fellow citizens? Our systems of checks and balances has failed, Steve. Miller, for example, may argue that he was acting on orders from the president, and those orders could fall under the "official act" definition that SCOTUS carved out for him 18 months ago. How are you going to feel if Miller et. al. walks free after all they've done?
You reform the system so that it functions properly. My bet is that ethical short cuts you decide to take will backfire. Have you ever studied the French revolution?
If you are willing to let your anger override your judgment, knock yourself off. However, you've lost me.
I don't look at it as an ethical shortcut, Steve, but I take your point.
With benefit of hindsight it was a mistake to entrust DoJ to milquetoast Merrick Garland. But in 2020 it looked like Trump had committed political suicide. No one foresaw that if we didn’t act quickly he’d run out the clock and get himself re-elected. It’s easy in retrospect to see that we should have waged lawfare as aggressively as possible.
If a person is against Trump and also for abandoning the rule of law, then such a person is merely looking for a replacement dictator; one that is personally more palatable.
And, Tim, of course you know that a fish stinks from the head, and that this "head" has said that he only needs to listen to his own (gag, choke, can't swallow) "Morality". If asked what he meant by that word, he would probably "clarify" that he forgot the "t" between the "r" and "a".
We can prepare for accountability, but the pardon of these fascists and propaganda shills are likely prepared, signed, and locked in Eagle Ed Martin's file cabinet, to be issued whenever the need becomes apparent.
The pardons are only good for federal charges. Murder in all its shadings is a statutory crime for which all concerned may be hunted down till the end of time.
Nuremburg trials is more like it. The leadership and everyone down the chain of command to the shooters on the ground need to face criminal charges. No exceptions. Truth and Reconciliation is for community healing, and that will be hard enough. As Vaclav Havel has written, the two things aren't always compatible, and sometimes they are simply at odds. But that comes later. Criminal accountability is another thing entirely, and I don't see how we get truth or reconciliation without it
We’ve learned what happens when accountability is sluggish and lax. The wrongdoers run down the clock until the Republicans control the government again.
Exactly. I am not counting on the leadership we have in today's Dem party to do what should be done. They are feckless and can't deliver a message and need to stop being pushovers. We need maga republicans held accountable immediately. It needs to happen fast. Hopefully soon, we will have new leadership we can count on. Mark Kelly comes to mind.
Or: Nuremberg
Bovino already has the wardrobe
As does Miller.
I hope it's "when" and not "if".
It is remarkable that Bill Kristol, someone who was a Republican, is advocating for filibuster in the senate of the funding bill until this assault on citizens is stopped. Only the people who are willing to believe lies are finding excuses for what happened in Minneapolis. Everyone else who is lucid is dejected and revolted by the violent lawless actions of CPB and ICE, and the abject lies by Kristi Noem, Gregory Bovino, Stephen Miller, and Scott Bessent. The rush to provide a completely bogus narrative minutes after the execution of Alex Pretti (and Renee Good a couple of weeks ago) reeks not only of propaganda, but obstruction of justice plain and simple. In time, all these people will have to held accountable. But this week, the Democrats in Congress must meet the moment and stand with the majority of the country who says "enough!".
"The rush to provide a completely bogus narrative minutes after the execution of Alex Pretti (and Renee Good a couple of weeks ago) reeks not only of propaganda, but obstruction of justice plain and simple." Exactly!
Hertling's comparison of ICE to soldiers and evaluation of their tactics as soldiers is appropriate, because ICE is not acting like law enforcement. They're a paramilitary force, both in how they dress, but also in what their mission is -- violently, with impunity, to own the libs. Law enforcers are public servants who serve the public. ICE are masked partisans who view the citizens of Minneapolis as enemy combatants.
There's a chilling moment in one of the videos where one of the ICE agents is clapping after the others fire 10+ rounds into the prone and lifeless body of Pretti.
The violence is done in broad daylight because that is their goal, that's what they were sent to do. They were clapping after murdering Pretti because they had achieved their mission.
Can't "like" what you wrote, but certainly concur with you 1000%.
Re: "...the president is dispatching border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis..."
Yeah. Great. Like that'll help. That's what the situation calls for: a bullet-headed, mush-mouthed dipshit who, if he wasn't Donald Trump's poodle, would be facing bribery charges for taking $50,000 in cash in a Cava bag from a guy he thought was paying him off for official acts (and who was really an FBI agent).
Good call, Donald. Good call.
Hey, he has to look like he is doing something to "straighten out" the situation and what would a normal dictator do? Send in the czar! The problem is that Homan, on a moral, humane scale, is a czardine.
He's just going to tell them 'guys, you're making the boss look bad!'
To which I'd reply, tell him to get some better pancake make-up ... just before I was fired (as in, let go, not what they do on the streets).
Why do authoritarians put out those ridiculous "election" results - you know the 98% to 2% ones? Is it to convince the population of the legitimacy of their rule? No. It is an act of intimidation with the unmistakable message that reality is what we say it is.
Same with Bovino and Noem and the rest. Their claims are such an affront to good sense and basic logic that the unmistakable message is this: We do not wish to be reasonable. We don't have to be reasonable. No one can make us be reasonable. Power is all and we have it.
"Fox News reports that many in the White House are growing 'increasingly uneasy and frustrated' with the Department of Homeland Security’s posture toward Minneapolis, which they say has been 'catastrophic from a PR and morale perspective.'"
The rest of us say it's been "catastrophic" from a "moral" perspective.
I initially misread it and was like "whoa...someone cares about the morality?!?!" and then saw the E and thought "oh...yeah that makes more sense"
Why are you running ads for United fucking healthcare in this newsletter? Couldn’t you have found a less ethically challenged advertiser? JFC.
Yes, the ad really offends me: United Health is ethically quite challenged in denying health care to their customers; and I pay my Founders $ to Bulwark for unbiased clear thinking. Ads make me question if that's what I'm getting.
Exactly. It’s one thing to sit through ads on YouTube (Bulwark’s ads, not YouTube’s. I pay good money to avoid those. lol) when I see some Bulwark content while scrolling the app. It’s quite another to be confronted with this crap when I’m already paying for a subscription.
Today my flags are coming down.
Jessica Yellin, on her podcast, asked Anne Applebaum at the beginning of this Trump administration, “How do we know when it’s time to flee?” Applebaum’s answer: “When the killing starts”.
The killing started long ago...it's just now they're killing white, middle-class Americans. It feels different to some of us, but as the SNL skit with Kenan Thompson and Teyana Taylor brilliantly demonstrated this weekend, it's not new to all Americans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUsWF70IS9Y
A very salient point. I’ve encountered it in opinion pieces and forum comments. It all fits; the violence and the subsequent lying is very familiar to minorities; a way of life, a constant presence of threat. Teaching children how to avoid “trouble”. Truth is, I’ve used flags as an underhanded way to avoid trouble myself, as a woman living alone; the psychology being that the biggest threat to my safety was from a certain type of white male, and I could appease them with the flags.
My sentiments exactly! Kudos to you for pointing this out to all and for sharing the SNL clip.
We are so beyond the break glass moment, and I hope democrats realize that ICE cannot be reformed. It must taken down root and branch. And we need to see them lead the charge on this.
Period.
Democrats, we are watching.
And Republicans, we are watching you, too.
An important government building should be named for Pretti. A VA hospital? At the very least.