Not Surrender. Adjustment.
That’s what you do in war; adapt to real-world circumstances.
My last essay sparked much dissent from my readership. The consensus seems to be that the Trump administration cannot afford to back off from deportations, because to do so would signal weakness and hand the Left a victory.
Many of the arguments were well-crafted, well-reasoned, and I applaud them for that. My readers are truly the smartest like never before. However, I still stand by what I said: the administration needs to back off to give the situation time to cool off.
A simple question to ask is this: how much more bloodshed are you willing to tolerate? Regardless of whether you think Renee Good and, now, Alex Pretti were in the wrong or not, U.S. citizens being shot and killed by federal agents isn’t a good thing. Yes, I know the Left wouldn’t mind it one bit if right-wing protesters were mowed down by machine gun fire from the Army. My contempt for the Left is well-documented, and I have nothing more to prove on that front.
But that’s the thing - I don’t care about the Left. I don’t care about the protesters. I don’t care about Renee Good or Alex Pretti. I care about innocent Americans who are getting caught up in the melee. I care about the federal agents. I care about the future of immigration in America. Once more, with feeling: if you care about any of this, you need to ask yourself the question, how much more bloodshed are you willing to tolerate?
At some point, a federal agent or even a completely innocent bystander will get killed. I hope to God it doesn’t happen. But I also find it inevitable at this point unless at least one side is willing to back down, if only temporarily. I understand arguments that the Left has the moral obligation to back down, as their obstruction efforts are what’s causing these dangerous encounters to materialize in the first place. But the world doesn’t work based off who possesses the moral obligation in a given moment.
In my view, the federal government, simply because they have the means of violence at their disposal, has a greater practical obligation to back down. The oft-cited saying “An armed society is a polite society” means that being armed is a grave responsibility, therefore, the armed party in any confrontation is the one who needs to exercise greater restraint. Failure to do so often leads to a situation where shots are exchanged.
I cite Scott Greer because his takes are reasoned and rational. However, realism doesn’t always lend to pragmatism, thus he often ends up being a little too cynical at times:
According to his logic, the U.S. was wrong to shift to a different war strategy following the 1968 Tet Offensive. They should’ve just kept sending American men to their deaths and keep pretending like they were winning the war, even after being exposed as liars. But the U.S. correctly altered its approach in response to changing strategic and political realities. That’s what you do in war; adapt to real-world circumstances.
More Greer:
We all know the Left holds agents to absurd, Hollywood-ish standards. That said, a key argument in my last essay was that agents can always do better. They must operate with the belief they can always do better, because the stakes of the job are much too high. That’s what it means to be professionals. If they’re not performing in a way that imbues public trust, then it’s perfectly reasonable to consider changing approaches, review training, and even abolishing the agency.
Yes. Abolish ICE. Am I joking?
During the early years of The Troubles of Northern Ireland, a special unit known as the Military Reaction Force (MRF) was established to combat the Irish Republican Army (IRA) insurgency. Members of this unit were seasoned veterans, wore civilian clothes and drove civilian cars, and worked mostly undercover. Unfortunately, MRF’s methods were controversial, the unit implicated in multiple high-profile deaths of civilians, and were eventually exposed by the IRA itself. The unit barely lasted a year-and-a-half, abolished in response to growing public discord. According to Scott Greer, this amounted to surrender, no?
Hardly. The MRF’s duties were handed off to three secret units, one of which was the famed British Special Air Service, or SAS. Together, these three units waged the “real” war against the IRA, from the shadows, beyond the public sight-lines. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - mass shootings, riots, bombings, this is what the public remembers about The Troubles. But behind the scenes, the British were actively fighting the IRA, doing so without triggering an excess of public outrage against British efforts, in secrecy, and with an equal amount of ruthlessness. In the years since The Troubles ended, many of the activities of the SAS and the two other units have come under scrutiny.
The point is, during the conflict, they kept the bad press to a minimum, legitimizing British anti-IRA activities and undermining the IRA’s legitimacy. It’s hard to argue with the results, which likely would’ve never come about had the British refused to change course. Doing so isn’t capitulation. It’s adaptation. If we want to win this war against the Left, against immigration, you have to be willing to adapt to changing circumstances. The Left has clearly adapted. It’s our turn now. This goes for triple if you honestly believe what we’re facing in Minnesota is an insurrection, an insurgency. It just might be.
The lack of cooperation from local authorities and law enforcement agencies has been a big problem, one which far-left political leaders like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Tim Walz need to be held accountable for. But I also consider it negligent, at this point, to continue deportation operations without the support of local authorities. All that’s happening is agents’ lives are being put at risk for diminishing gains. As I’ll explain later, many within the Department of Homeland Security are concerned about the leadership they’re getting from the top. If even the people charged with carrying out the mission are expressing discontent, it’s time to take a step back and reevaluate what’s being done.
Consider: Blue cities like Memphis, Tennessee, and even Washington, D.C. have fully cooperated with federal authorities on deportation operations. Neither city is known for supporting Trump nor the Republican Party, both cities are majority black, a constituency not known for warm feelings towards the president. Yet neither city has raised any kind of ruckus in response to ICE coming to their town. Why’s that?
In fact, according to one calculation:
It’s pretty obvious where the problems lie, who the problematic leftist leaders are. Even Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, who 13 months ago was evoking Tiananmen Square, implying his citizens and cops should risk getting steamrolled by tanks to protect illegal immigrants, has proven cooperative.
All I can tell you is that local cooperation is paramount to success. Expecting agents to go into hostile territory, expecting to basically fight their way in and out of “hot” zones, because hey, they’re just a bunch of dumb psycho liberals, who cares if they die, is depraved lunacy. Agents, Americans just going about their daily business, they aren’t pawns in your political pissing contest. When it’s all said and done, nobody’s going to care who was really MAGA, who was really BASED, and who was a libtard. Radicals tend to not survive civil wars, anyway. They make up a disproportionate number of casualties.
Opportunities to become casualties may become abundant in the coming years.
Video Is Abundant, Facts Are Scarce
The excellent YouTube channel “Armed Attorneys” offers an early rundown of the shooting death of Alex Pretti. It’s less than 15 minutes, so I hope you watch it if you want a sense of how to think about this incident:
Upfront, both lawyers agree the narratives on both sides are wrong and not helping matters, according to the video. Pretti wasn’t just minding his own business; he was an active participant in a situation with potential for violence, even if only peripherally. He clearly did something to draw the attention of law enforcement, and once that happens, his actions become increasingly less defensible. Whether his killing was justifiable or not, the idea that he was “executed,” a phrase the Left employs reflexively and one that I’m sick and tired of hearing, is a hyperbolic lie.
But the federal government’s rhetoric has been irresponsible as well. Something that’s become obvious in the wake of these two incidents is how poor the leadership from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin cites increasing discord among DHS officials:
Specifically, I’m told there is extreme frustration with DHS officials going on TV and putting out statements claiming that Alex Pretti was intending to conduct a “massacre” of federal agents or wanted to carry out "maximum damage", even after numerous videos appeared to show those claims were inaccurate. While they say it was a terrible decision to show up with a gun and inject himself into a federal law enforcement operation, there is no indication Pretti was there to murder law enforcement, as videos appear to show he never drew his holstered firearm.
These sources say this messaging from DHS officials has been catastrophic from a PR and morale perspective, as it is eroding trust and credibility - comparing it to when Democrats falsely claimed the border was closed or that Haitians were being whipped at the border.
Some of these sources have described DHS’ response to the shooting as “a case study on how not to do crisis PR”, one said they are so “fed up” that they wish they could retire, another said “DHS is making the situation worse”, and another added that “DHS is wrong” and “we are losing this war, we are losing the base and the narrative.”
Melugin goes on to say most agents and officials support deportation efforts. However, they feel as though department leadership at the very top is putting them at risk through their irresponsible rhetoric. Instead of trying to calm tensions, it seems like Noem and others (Steven Miller must be implicated) are trying to turn the temperature up even further, and for what? I have my thoughts on that, which I’ll address in a separate post.
I can’t imagine ICE agents or BP agents head into work hoping they get to shoot someone today. However, the increasing hostility from protesters and fiery rhetoric from their leadership is putting everyone on hair-trigger alert, it seems. Noem, Miller, and others seem to have pushed agencies carrying out deportations to be maximally aggressive in their efforts, but it’s clear backlash has arrived. If even the agents now feel as though they’re being left high and dry, we have a major leadership problem.
Emily Taylor is the one who utters the phrase “Video is abundant, facts are scarce.” Her point is that the video doesn’t prove anything for anyone. It doesn’t prove whether the shooting is justified or not, not on its own. So even if this goes to trial, it in no way clears or condemns the officer, again, not on its own. But none of that matters when it comes to public opinion, because people are ultimately going to see only what they want to see. Every incident, every video, is simply a validation of existing priors.
Armed Attorneys notes that the case is more ambiguous than people may like it to be, but guess what - most of these use-of-force incidents, including ones where a citizen was the one who pulled the trigger, include a heavy splash of gray. There’s nothing particularly unique about the shooting of Pretti, it’s just that it’s happening in a tense, high-stakes political environment. This underscores again why it doesn’t even really matter what the video shows, because the shooting itself isn’t the issue.
I hate rendering judgment when we still have so few facts. That said, I’ll just broadly conclude that this shooting seems less defensible than that of Renee Good. Both shootings were unnecessary, even if they’re legally justifiable. This one, I don’t know - does everyone just need to be shot? Does everyone need to be confronted? I’d hope agents understand the environment they’re working in, and while I appreciate the tremendous amount of stress they’re under, I’d also hope they’re aware we cannot afford many more of these types of incidents. That said, I get agents can’t afford to think about politics in the heat of the moment, and I strongly believe we need better leadership from DHS and the president, to get these agents out of increasing danger, and save ourselves the trouble of unnecessary bloodshed.
You don’t have to agree with someone like Armed Attorneys. It’s up to you. But remember: if you consider yourself a factual, reasoned, scientific person, your emotions, your personal opinions, aren’t what’s most important here. Either the experts have something to say to you or they don’t. Don’t like what they say? Find an expert who agrees with you, then.
Their analysis better be solid, though.
This Isn’t A Game
As I close out this draft, a number of major developments have occurred. First, Trump has spoken with both Minneapolis Mayor Frey and Governor Walz to come to a consensus on next steps:
Despite my contempt for both Frey and Walz, these conversations tell me everyone, including the president, recognize things have gotten entirely out of hand and are looking for ways to lower the temperature. This is a good thing, what we expect our leaders to do in times of crisis.
Results have been immediate: the Minnesota State Police has been deployed, breaking up unlawful protests (a.k.a. “riots”) in Minneapolis. It makes you wonder why it wasn’t done sooner, but we all know what we’re dealing with here. Many observers have noted that city and state Democratic officials have been implicated in far-left chat groups hosted on the platform Signal, coordinating and encouraging insurrection, as it were, and this is what’s finally triggered urgency on the part of Walz and Frey. Whatever the case might be, what needed to happen is finally happening.
Second, Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino has been relieved of his duties:
I don’t know the extent to which Bovino’s leadership was responsible for these two high-profile tragedies. That said, when things aren’t going right, you replace leadership. That’s just what you do, regardless of whether it’s tangibly “their fault” or not. Tremendous leadership comes with tremendous responsibility. Note: by relieving Bovino of his duties, Trump has exercised greater command responsibility than Joe Biden ever did in the wake of the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle which cost the lives of 13 Americans. We used to hold leaders to a much higher standard. Relieving Bovino is a step in the right direction, even if he didn’t do anything wrong.
Tom Homan, a veteran law enforcement official who was once awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama, has been sent to Minneapolis, hopefully to negotiate a way forward. I hate the idea that immigration enforcement is something which needs to be negotiated, but we have to live in the real world. Again, lives are the on the line. We cannot afford more of these high-profile incidents which the Left can exploit for their gain.
Speaking of which, at least one poll shows that most Americans, Democrats aside, think illegal immigration is a problem:
I’m cautiously optimistic over these results, given how powerful the left-wing propaganda machine is. If Americans view illegal immigration as a problem despite everything that’s happened, maybe the public is more capable of assessing the situation rationally, even if they’re disturbed by the methods of ICE.
As for who won this round? Who cares? If it stops the bloodshed, it’s a win. Like I keep saying, people’s lives aren’t pawns in partisan political games. I can live with the Left claiming victory this time around if it means we don’t have any more shootings, which helps nobody. It certainly doesn’t help the cause of immigration enforcement.
Finally, in case anyone actually thinks I’ve forgotten which side I’m on, I have a message for the Left in closing. First, attending peaceful popular protests doesn’t require any bravery or courage on your part. In our decadent times, Americans, most of whom lean left, have forgotten what bravery and courage actually entails - a willingness to sacrifice. Attending protests requires no sacrifice on your part except time. Perhaps immigration is that red-line issue for the Left because it exposes so many insecurities on their part - that they’re not as brave, charitable, and committed as they tell themselves they are. Not a single liberal would appreciate a squatter in their home, but when it comes to illegal immigration? No matter, because that’s someone else’s problem to solve, liberals just need to make sure they think the right thoughts.
Likewise, I’ve said this many times before, but protest isn’t a Carte Blanche to engage in any kind of behavior one sees fit. We’re past due for a serious conversation on the limits of protest (yes, protest has limits!), how those limits aren’t equally applied to both Left and Right, and how the Left abuses the right of protest as a manner of habit.
Second, standing up to a cop makes you a cowardly bully because in America, cops are expected and, for the most part, do act with restraint. Standing up to an armed state agent with the legitimacy to exercise violence isn’t brave. It’s stupid. Americans should be thankful cops in the U.S. do in fact do their jobs better than most cops of the world, who either lack assertiveness or are supremely brutal in their ways. Morality being subjective (the Left’s rule, not mine), it doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong. What matters is that nobody’s entitled to the restraint of others. It’s supremely idiotic for the Left to effectively wage war against ICE while expecting them to practice total restraint against them.
Consider: it was revealed today that Alex Pretti suffered a broken rib during a confrontation with ICE a week before his death. Putting aside your personal feelings on his killing, ask yourself: what on Earth was he thinking? Most reasonable people would take that as a sign to not tangle with federal agents again. What was he fixing to do the second time? Get “revenge?” At what point is Pretti responsible for any of this? If you’re not willing to ask yourself this question, you’re not an honest person.
Finally, not a single one of these justice-seeking liberals are prepared for violence. This is true of the Right also, but it’s even more so true of the Left. A number of leftist commentators have described Renee Good and Alex Pretti as brave, yet neither one of them would’ve dared stand up to a truly dangerous figure such as a criminal. That’s because they all understand the criminal would kill them without asking first, at the slightest provocation. Criminals are the legitimate authority to the liberal, because to whom you submit in both word and deed is who has power over you.
Looping back to the previous point, it’s easy to stand up to someone when you feel confident you can push against boundaries without triggering a violent response. Again, that’s not bravery. That’s cowardly stupidity. Both Good and Pretti are dead, regrettably, because they didn’t understand violence, because they allowed ideology to convince them of their moral righteousness, and because they allowed their moral righteousness to instill the belief they were invincible, that others would recognize it in them.
Let’s discuss. Have your views on immigration enforcement changed any? Do you see the situation deescalating in Minneapolis, even if it amounts to a brief respite? What other changes do you think the Trump administration could make to improve their deportation efforts, as well as win the propaganda war?
Let’s talk about it in the comments section.
Max Remington writes about armed conflict and prepping. Follow him on Twitter at @AgentMax90.
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Good post. I don't agree with everything you write, but I enjoy reading logic and reason that is often scarce in these times.
That being said, the Tet Offensive was a massive win for the US. The Viet Cong got their shit wrecked and blew most of their strength in a failed offensive.
The fact that it was a propaganda win, and as a result everyone remembers the Tet Offensive as a US loss is still worth mulling over.
I am once again questioning what you are thinking with this post. If anything, since the last post we have been more vindicated in our position.
American is not worried about Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They are thinking about the Seahawks and the Patriots. They are thinking about money, groceries, jobs, gas, and stuff like that.
Frankly, the deaths of these people were not tragedies, they are an inevitable fact of the radical communist methods of the activists. The whole strategy is to use "I'm not touching you tactics" as far as possible to try to draw a response so they can cry about it. At this point, people who are strongly politically minded are already information bubbles where they decided what happened before they saw the videos and what really happened doesn't even matter. We cynically understand that the facts don't matter at all, just whether you can prosecute, who is doing the prosecution, and how you can hack the judiciary for this purpose.
On a personal level I am glad they are dead. We need more communists to die in this country. I wish 100x as many of them died. On a tactical level, their deaths don't benefit us because they don't actually take away left power, and they serve as a minor propaganda victory for low information normies who are told to have a moment of silence before a hockey game. But everyone is going to forget these people. No one remembers the dude who lit himself on fire. We can wait like one month and people will forget.
However, signalgate is the real story here, because with the doxxing of the signal group, you have definitive proof of the coordination, the MN government involvement and the intent of the rioters. The doxxing of the group was abject moral defeat for them, and their numbers are already diminishing. Walz already seems to be throwing them under the bus. Trump is going to win just by keeping this up.