By Ben R. Williams
In the wake of the murder of 37-year-old Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents in Minneapolis, we must ask ourselves the following question:
What, if anything, do President Donald Trump and his most ardent supporters actually believe in?
It’s not law and order. If the goal of ICE was simply to deport criminal migrants, they wouldn’t be in Minneapolis in enormous numbers. They would be in Texas or Florida. The only reason they’re in Minnesota is because Governor Tim Walz had the audacity to join Kamala Harris’ ticket and now he must be punished for it.
Do they believe in the Second Amendment? Clearly not, and I’ll admit, that one came as a surprise. My entire life, I’ve been hearing conservative gun owners talk about how important it is for civilians to be armed in order to defend themselves from a tyrannical government. I constantly see people open carrying in grocery stores and restaurants. But suddenly, Pretti is labeled a criminal because he had a legally-purchased semi-automatic pistol that he never once touched and was removed from his person shortly before he was executed in the street like a dog by an ICE agent.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that “nobody who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines.” Trump posted to Truth Social that the gun was “loaded (with two additional full magazines!) and ready to go — What is that all about?”
If it’s now a crime to own a pistol and two additional magazines for it, then an enormous number of people in this country are suddenly on the wrong side of the law, myself included.
Quite frankly, if you’re anti-gun, Trump has done more for your cause than any Democrat who’s passed through the White House in my lifetime. He banned bump stocks in 2018, the same year he said that firearms should be taken from potentially dangerous people before they’ve had their day in court and their right to due process. Now he believes that simply owning and carrying a gun in public is indicative of criminal behavior.
Of course, he didn’t believe that when Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people at a protest in Wisconsin in 2020. Rittenhouse was considered a hero and managed to become the most famous murderer who also resembles a barbecue restaurant mascot since John Wayne Gacy.
Do they believe in protecting our most vulnerable from violent criminals? No. So far, ICE’s main achievements in Minneapolis seem to be shooting a mother of three in the face, executing a nurse from a VA hospital, and disappearing children. If an undocumented immigrant killed a mother and a nurse and kidnapped a bunch of children, he would be public enemy number one. When ICE agents do it, we are told that these folks got what they deserved.
Do they believe in supporting law enforcement? No, because ICE agents are only law enforcement in the most abstract sense. Generally speaking, law enforcement officers receive training and have to pass various tests and hit certain metrics. For ICE agents, the necessary qualifications seem to be “wanting a signing bonus” and “having a lot of unresolved anger due to a sneaking suspicion that you peaked in high school and you weren’t even popular then.”
So what, then, do Trump and his supporters actually believe in?
My suspicion is that Trump believes that if he keeps ICE in Minneapolis, someone is eventually going to shoot an ICE agent, at which point he can invoke the Insurrection Act, send in the military, and cancel the 2026 midterm elections. That may sound reactionary, but at this point, I’d be shocked if it doesn’t happen.
As for Trump’s supporters, they believe in Trump. They believe in him more than they believe in their loved ones, their values, their judgment, their morality, and the evidence of their eyes and ears.
To those folks, I say the following: the best time to get off this train was a decade ago. The second best time is now.
