Minnesota town hall erupts in laughter over Republican’s claim of Trump 'olive branch'

A Minnesota state senator's claim about Donald Trump went awry Wednesday evening when he was met with laughter from the crowd at a CNN town hall event.

Minnesota's Twin Cities area has been the target of a historically massive deportation surge, with ICE and CBP swarming Minneapolis and St. Paul in search of undocumented immigrants. Residents on the ground claim that their efforts have amounted to a widespread terror and harassment campaign, seemingly targeting any and all non-white individuals, not just criminals. The situation reached a fever pitch after two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, prompting a sustained nationwide backlash against the enforcement operation from both lawmakers and the public.

In the fallout, Trump has been attempting to deescalate the situation and shift strategies, removing CBO commander Greg Bovino from his role in Minnesota and sidelining DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in favor of Tom Homan, one of his leading immigration advisers. The president also made phone calls to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, which he described as productive and "very good." The two Democratic leaders also spoke positively of the calls.

Despite those positive reactions, during a Wednesday town hall event, State Sen. Holmstrom claimed that the president's effort to extend an "olive branch" had been met "with more insults" from Democratic leaders, something he further claimed was common in Trump's interactions with the opposition party.

"President Trump met with these leaders, and he came out, and he said great things about them, if you read his post, he was very complimentary," Holmstrom said. "And it was repudiated with more insults from the leaders here in Minnesota, the olive branch is constantly extended, and it's swatted away because of anger and resentment."

The audience at the event did not seem to buy into the argument, responding with a round of laughter at Holmstrom's expense.

On CNN Thursday morning, Meghan Hays, the former White House director of message planning under Joe Biden, said that the reaction was representative of a broader issues Republicans are facing this year.

"I think that's the problem that republicans are going to face going into the midterms, is they keep saying, don't believe your lying eyes," Hays said. "It's like they're in this little bubble, that they are the only ones that believe what's going on outside of it, but the voters are going to have the final say. You hear people just blatantly just laughing at this guy, which is not normal in those town halls. We've all gotten them before. They're normally very quiet and very respectful. So it's kind of interesting that you hear all these people just having open reactions to the lies they're being told to see."