Trump 'in full retreat' and GOP 'running for political cover' over Minneapolis: analysis

MS NOW columnist Michael A. Cohen said one year into his second term President Donald Trump has finally managed to make some of his fellow Republicans scream and run from him.

“If you’ve noticed a strange rumble emanating from Washington, D.C., let me help you out: It’s the sound of Republicans running for political cover after immigration officers shot and killed another American citizen, Alex Pretti,” said Cohen (who is not Trump's former fixer). It began as a low rumble on Sunday night, when a smattering of Republicans and usually reliable conservative pundits tepidly expressed concern about the shooting and how the Trump administration was characterizing the incident.”

But by Monday, Cohen said the rumbling “crescendoed into a deafening roar.”

“The situation was so bad that even Trump was looking for political cover. Late Sunday night, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump declined to defend the Border Patrol officers who took Pretti’s life and signaled that he was looking for an exit ramp from the violence that immigration agents have unleashed in Minnesota over the last month.”

And by Monday afternoon, Cohen said the White House “was in full retreat” with Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt refusing to say Trump agreed with claims from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist.”

“One could practically hear the bus being driven over Noem and Miller,” Cohen said.

Over the weekend, Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino also tried to blame Pretti for his own death, accusing him of planning to kill law enforcement officers, He even claimed Border Patrol officers were the real victims of the incident. But by late Monday, Bovino was already being reassigned.

“Other reports suggested that Bovino, who had previously been excoriated by a federal judge in Chicago for lying about his and his agents’ use of force in that city, had been demoted,” said Cohen, adding that this was an extreme pivot from two weeks ago when the White House and its Republican allies in Congress defended agents shooting and killing Minneapolis resident and mother Renee Good.

What changed? Cohen suspects some of it was situational, with Pretti dodging to protect a woman agents pushed to the ice when he was beaten and shot multiple times. Another is what the shooting death represents to Second Amendment rights, which is a central tenet of the Republican platform.

Pretti was carrying a firearm at the time, and was licensed to carry it. But video shows agents stripped him of his weapon before killing him.

“Does this mean that Republicans are preparing to break with the president who has done so much political damage to the GOP brand in just over a year in office? Don’t count on it,” said Cohen. “Congressional Republicans didn’t jettison Trump even after he almost got many of them killed on Jan. 6, 2021. A single death in Minnesota isn’t going to get them to completely change their tune — and for many who represent red states and safe House seats, they are likely better off aligned with Trump.”

Still, at least for a moment, Trump and the GOP realize that they’ve overreached.

“There are limits to how much lawlessness, violence and chaos Americans will tolerate,” Cohen wrote.