When a Moment of Clarity Becomes Just a Moment
The Alex Pretti shooting could have been a breaking point. Instead, we’re watching the ecosystem absorb another contradiction.
Here we are again. How are we here again?
An American shot dead in the street by federal agents. Again in Minneapolis. This time a 37-year-old ICU nurse named Alex Pretti who cared for veterans at the VA hospital. Once again we’re facing questions about why deadly force is the only response in this situation.
I thought this time might be different.
Pretti seemed to believe in the Second Amendment, he had a valid Minnesota permit to carry a firearm. He had no criminal record.
Video shows him with a cell phone in his hand when federal agents tackled him, removed his gun, and fired potentially ten shots in less than five seconds while he was prone on the ground. He’d been trying to help a woman who’d been pushed down and pepper-sprayed.
It makes me furious that we are here again. What makes me frustrated, though, is that the circumstances of Pretti’s death should have given us pause and brought us together for reform.
Instead it is a case study in how quickly events are twisted and distorted.
A Brief Opening
In the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s death something unusual happened.
The administration’s narrative that Pretti was an “assassin” who wanted to “massacre law enforcement” was so transparently false that even allies pushed back. The President said he didn’t like the shooting. The NRA defended a citizen’s right to carry. Gun rights groups in Minnesota said peaceable people don’t lose their Second Amendment rights at protests. Republican senators like Bill Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins called for investigations.
For maybe 24 hours, I thought: maybe this is it. Maybe killing a legal gun owner exercising his constitutional rights finally cuts across tribal lines. Maybe this is the moment that forces accountability.
Then I watched conservative media do its work.
The Spincycle Corrects
Within 48 hours, the machine had done what it does: Twist, distort, distract.
Commentators, like Jesse Watters, called protesters “terrorists” who must “behave well and submit immediately.” Megyn Kelly, who’d initially tweeted (sarcastically) that Trump should pull ICE out of Minnesota, reversed herself completely within days, saying Pretti was “being subversive” and “looking to cause trouble.”
What I realized watching it unfold is that the narrative doesn’t get reframed over time. Different people see completely different pictures depending on who’s narrating. Those viewing the same video with different commentators are seeing entirely different events. There’s no shared baseline of facts to argue from. Just tribal loyalty determining which picture you’re allowed to see.
And Minnesota’s four Republican members of Congress?
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer blamed Democratic leadership for “empowering criminals.” The other three (Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach, Pete Stauber) tweeted either suggesting the full investigation or retweeted the President (unfortunately for Finstad he forgot to cut out the instructions on how he should retweet).
One might expect more from their elected leaders after two US citizens were killed by federal agents in their state in three weeks. Though all four issued a joint statement on Thursday reflecting on Laken Riley, the young woman from Georgia, who was killed by an undocumented immigrant one year ago.
The Bigger Picture
While all of this unfolds, the government funding deadline hits Friday.
Senate Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security without accountability measures for ICE: body cameras, use-of-force standards, prohibitions on raiding schools and hospitals. They need seven Republicans to break ranks. We have five expressing concern. Two more would make the difference.
I’m not feeling optimistic.
Because I’m also watching the larger context. While Governor Tim Walz is begging the administration to remove ICE from Minnesota, Venezuela’s acting president told Trump she’s had enough of his interference. (This after the President tried to claim credit for democracy work that won María Corina Machado a Nobel Peace Prize.) The EU and India just signed a massive free trade deal without us. Canada’s Mark Carney encouraged “middle powers” to chart their own course. There’s a lot going on in the world.
And I realized: this moment of pause from the White House is just that. A moment. Brief. Then when the President feels cornered, facing blowback from enemies and allies alike, he’s going to lash out and create more chaos. The cycle will likely continue.
What Minnesota Tells Us
My friends in Minnesota report everyone is on alert.
There are more federal agents in the state than local police officers. Many worry they could be next, and for good reason. Alex Pretti had mourned for Renée Nicole Good, killed by ICE just seventeen days earlier. Then he became the next victim.
I saw Megyn Kelly’s initial tweet suggesting we pull ICE out of Minnesota, make it a sanctuary for all asylum seekers, and let the state handle what the federal government can’t. I thought about that unusual idea: leave Minnesota alone. It reminded me there used to be a conservative pro-states’ rights perspective. What if, in situations where we can resolve nothing at the federal level, states got more authority?
We’re already seeing California team with Western states to provide our own health recommendations. Could states work together on issues the federal government seems incapable of handling?
Trump made no secret of his desire to oversee the largest mass deportation in American history. Is he really going to back down after a call with a former rival and daily punching bag? I doubt it. There’s enough on Trump’s plate that backing down might be wise. But I don’t see him taking that advice.
So instead we’re at an impasse, frustrating Minnesota, the American public, and much of the world.
What We Can Do
It’s easy to give into the feeling that this is hopeless. I don’t believe that, though. And I often hear from readers: what can we do?
There’s a lot we can do.
We can keep tabs on our elected leaders. Let them know when we agree and disagree with their actions. You’d be surprised how many people just aren’t calling their legislators. Minnesota’s Republicans are staying silent because they’ve calculated that silence is safer than accountability. Prove them wrong.
We can talk to each other, even in disagreement. It’s only through that disagreement we can understand perspectives hardened by isolation, especially when we turn on each other instead.
We can keep hope alive. I’ve heard old dogs can learn new tricks, but I haven’t really seen it. And I’m not sure a President who only doubles down when times get tough is really going to change.
But we as a country can change fast. I saw it happen in the 2008 election and it can happen again.
Good people can still make a world of difference. There are a lot of good people in America, on both sides of the political aisle. We still have time. I don’t give up hope on us yet, even knowing it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.
I love that you are always optimistic Johanna, even in times like these. Unfortunately, I at times can feel that the glass is not half full, but rather half empty and has a chip in it ;).
In 2008, we were audacious enough to hope. It was an easy lift considering the candidate who emerged. I just don’t yet see that standard bearer to lead us out of this partisan quagmire.