The strong nationwide reaction to the assault on communities and the murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by the ICE goons has clearly put the Trump gang on the negative. After starting with their usual lies that the two victims were domestic terrorists who were attacking the ICE thugs, they started to backtrack when the videos of the events taken by eyewitnesses from multiple angles showed that that they were innocent people gunned down by thugs who seemed to feel that they could act with impunity. I do not watch TV but read that these videos were shown repeatedly, making the Trump lies untenable.

As a result of the uproar, Trump and his lackeys have started to refer to the events as a tragedy, put the murderers on suspension, demoted the Nazi cosplaying head thug Greg Bovino and removed him from the scene in Minnesota, and promised an investigation into the killings, though I am not holding my breath that anything will come from that.

Trump of course will never take responsibility or apologize but his lackeys are now backing away from their earlier bombast and distancing themselves from Stephen Miller, the ghoulish advisor to Trump and chief proponent of the harsh ICE behavior.

What Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, did not say on Monday was more important than what she did.

When Leavitt stepped up to the briefing room podium to address the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, she avoided the kind of victim-blaming tirade that has become de rigueur for Donald Trump’s administration.

Instead the spokeswoman called Pretti’s death a “tragedy”, said the US president wanted to let the investigation take its course, and, strikingly, refused to endorse adviser Stephen Miller’s slander of Pretti as a “would-be assassin”.
…

When a reporter cited Miller’s tweet and asked why administration officials jump to conclusions before an investigation had even been conducted, Leavitt dodged: “Well, look, this has obviously been a very fluid and fast-moving situation throughout the weekend. As for President Trump, whom I speak for, he has said that he wants to let the investigation continue and let the facts lead in this case.”

Pressed on Miller’s “would-be assassin” comment again, Leavitt deflected: “Look, as I’ve said, I have not heard the president characterise Mr Pretti in that way.”

The press secretary declined to answer a follow-up or comment on whether Miller would be issuing an apology to Pretti’s family.

But Leavitt did remark: “Nobody here at the White House, including the president of the United States, wants to see Americans hurt or killed and losing their lives in American streets. We mourn for the parents. As a mother myself, of course, I cannot imagine the loss of life, especially losing one’s child.”

If Trump is backing down – and it is still a big if – that will be welcome but not entirely surprising. The president is, above all, a creature of television, better tuned to the power of images and commentary on the small screen than many of his younger acolytes. And the TV has been wretched for the past 48 hours: endless videos showing the street execution of Pretti, exposing official accounts as a lie.

Moreover, a scriptwriter could hardly have come up with a more sympathetic victim than Pretti, including for Republican viewers: he was an ICU nurse who cares for military veterans. He was also allegedly carrying a gun, as he was legally entitled to in Minnesota. Republican defenders of the second amendment take a dim view of this being used to justify the government’s over-zealous response.

It is becoming harder and harder for Trump supporters to condone what is going on, though they keep trying.

Support for ICE has been cratering and even some Republicans are beginning to worry that they are being led over a political cliff by Trump.

Trump would also be aware of rumblings of discontent within his own party and not only from the usual suspects. Congressman James Comer of Kentucky urged the president to pull ICE out of Minnesota. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana called for a joint investigation into the shooting. Congressman Bill Huizenga of Michigan called for congressional hearings.

All are aware of opinion polls that say a majority of Americans believe that ICE has gone too far. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump “fielded dozens of calls over the weekend from administration officials and senators, with some worrying that public sentiment has turned against the administration’s immigration-enforcement actions”. Immigration, for so long a Republican strength, has turned into a liability.

This weekend there are going to be anti-ICE protests across the country in order to keep up the pressure.

And did I mention that we are once again in government shutdown brinkmanship, this time caused by efforts to force changes to ICE.

Yes, Republicans are doing a great job of governing.