Just a few streets away from the place where in May 2020 George Floyd was killed by police – the tragic event triggering the series of Black Lives Matter protests, with a significant contribution to the defeat in the presidential elections of that year of Donald Trump – an ICE (Customs and Immigration Police) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, 37 years old, mother and American citizen.
It remains a mystery why Kristen Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security (equivalent to the Ministry of the Interior), JD Vance, the vice president, and Donald Trump, the US president, reacted so quickly and biasedly to the event that was filmed by several activists monitoring ICE actions in Minneapolis, quickly distributed on social networks.
The shocking scene of a woman being shot while driving her car has caused a political earthquake in the USA, one that has sparked protests and stirred much emotion in American society.
The US president swiftly sided with the aggressor officer, being supported by other members of his government, in an attempt to activate his supporters, turning the shocking event into a major political confrontation.
Generally, in such tragedies, leaders come before the nation and appeal for solidarity, encouraging authorities to investigate, find out what happened, and for justice to establish responsibilities and punish the guilty.
VIDEO. The American daily New York Times has published a video analysis of the shocking event that took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in which an immigration police officer fired three shots at a woman driving her car, killing her. The analysis includes several recordings made on-site by anti-ICE activists, federal agents, as well as captured by surveillance cameras mounted on nearby houses. The video was subtitled in Romanian using an automatic translation application. There may be transcription errors in some words, names of individuals, but also terms - Source: New York Times
JD Vance: The shot person is to blame
Donald Trump has applied a contrary strategy, one that fuels hatred, adds fuel to the fire, and exposes society to even more violence.
If such a political action worked when he was in opposition and sought to win electoral confrontations, it never worked when he was in power.
The above reference to the tragedy of George Floyd's killing was an example, but Trump also acted similarly during the pandemic when he urged Americans to drink disinfectant or when he delayed sanitary protection measures, ridiculing those taken by Democratic governors in some federal states.
Everything Donald Trump gained as possible support following the intervention in Venezuela has been lost or will be lost in the coming days because he chose to defend the ICE agent. The on-site images are so shocking, so dramatic, that no sane person can blame the victim, as JD Vance did in his official statement.
"I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it is a tragedy caused by herself and a tragedy of the far left…", stated JD Vance, Vice President of the USA, in a press conference after the event.
The Senate checkmates Trump
In the US Senate, the current power balance is 53-47 in favor of the Republicans. On January 8, a resolution was voted on in this legislative body that prohibits Donald Trump from carrying out any actions involving military forces of any kind in Venezuela.
5 Republican senators sided with the Democrats, issuing a warning to the president regarding his tendency to exercise power arbitrarily.
In fact, the vote went beyond the actions in Venezuela; the 5 senators - Rand Paul (Kentucky), Josh Hawley (Missouri), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Todd Young (Indiana) - also opposed a forced takeover of Greenland by the current administration, as announced by Donald Trump, even though this was not specified in the voted legislative text.
"…there is one thing we should not do, one thing we should not waste our time on, and that is any effort to annex Greenland. This includes conquest by force, coercion, pressure, threat, or any similar method. I never expected to raise this issue in the United States Senate," stated Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator representing the state of Alaska, from the legislative body's platform.
Additionally, Republican Senator Rand Paul criticized the "hyper-militarization" of ICE, stating that sending thousands of agents into American cities has caused "chaos" and violated the principle of federalism.
Trump has broken the world. How do we fix it?
Shortly after the tragic event, an opposition has already emerged within the Republican Party regarding the shooting of an American citizen by an ICE agent.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. As we approach the 2026 midterm elections, the anti-Trump political current within the Republicans will intensify.
There are a series of electoral races for federal state legislatures, mayors, and other eligible positions where Democrats win or achieve unexpectedly high scores in the political strongholds of their opponents, causing concern among Republicans.
The videos we saw yesterday from Minneapolis are deeply disturbing. As we mourn this loss of a human life, we need a thorough and objective investigation into how and why this happened – which will require full cooperation from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, along with local authorities – and a calming of political rhetoric. Immigration enforcement activities have increased significantly, leading to heightened tensions across the country.
Lisa Murkowski, Republican Senator, representing the state of Alaska
Although it is early, the tragedy in Minneapolis will have a greater impact on future political positioning than the shooting of Charlie Kirk, the conservative influencer, because the tragedy was caused by an officer of a police unit, and ICE is an extremely unpopular law enforcement agency in American cities.
The balance of victory in electoral confrontations is not swayed in one direction or another by militant supporter groups, but by independents and moderates. These voters are mainly influenced by quality of life, economic situation, and social peace, with ideological debates having a lesser impact.
Donald Trump has entered a trajectory of losing political influence after a year in which he behaved as chaotically as in his first term.
Many of his current political positions are determined by an attempt to remain relevant and find a way to ensure the Republicans' victory in the upcoming midterm elections at the end of this year. It remains to be seen if he will succeed. So far, he hasn't.
His selfish, chaotic, and aggressive behavior has left its mark on both American and international politics, and those who believe that the effects will disappear once he leaves power are mistaken.
He has changed America, Europe, and the whole world. The most important thing after the Trump era will be to find ways out of uncertainty, chaos, and violence with as few damages, injuries, and loss of human lives as possible.