There are a lot of people who have issues with how DHS Secretary Noem has been handling the PR aspect of the second shooting in Minnesota.
Noem went right after Alex Pretti, as did several other top Trump officials, characterizing him as an extremist, a domestic terrorist, and even an assassin.
Reports are now breaking that behind the scenes, federal immigration officials are losing their patience with Noem.
Immediately after the shooting, DHS released a statement describing the event: “Fearing for his life and the lives and safety of fellow officers, an agent fired defensive shots.”
DHS further stated that Pretti was looking to do "maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”
When they started to push this narrative, I thought it was the wrong approach. And that language also spurred Minnesota officials into demanding a role in the investigation into the shooting.
DHS cut them off, however, just as had been done in the Renee Good shooting, insisting that DHS was taking the lead in the investigation.
It took no time at all for the media to jump all over DHS, with The New York Times running a piece titled, “How the Trump Administration Rushed to Judgment in Minneapolis Shooting.”
Of all the descriptions of the event, the harshest was given by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who characterized Pretti as a domestic terrorist and an assassin.
All of this was taking place while the nation was still in shock over the shooting and long before we had all the facts of the case.
As these comments were coming in, I knew it was going to be trouble, and while I believe these people are putting themselves into bad spots, I can recognize the optics of how this was going to play out when Trump officials were going on the attack rather than taking a more reserved approach to the events.
The one thing the administration cannot have is agents inside of these agencies talking out of school, but that is what we are starting to see, as officials are growing tired of Noem’s approach.
A Fox News report stated that numerous federal officials have come forward to express their frustration with how Noem is handling this. The report stated, “Some officials described DHS’ response to the shooting as ‘a case study on how not to do crisis PR,’ with one saying they are so ‘fed up’ that they wish they could retire, another saying ‘DHS is making the situation worse,’ and another adding that ‘DHS is wrong’ and ‘we are losing this war, we are losing the base and the narrative.’”
Typically, standard operating procedure would be releasing a somber statement, calling it a tragedy, but reserving judgment until a full investigation could take place. The fact that the likes of Noem and Miller not only came to a conclusion but also went on the attack is not sitting well with a lot of people, both in and outside of these agencies.
With the media embracing all things Democrat right now, this administration has to be careful how it presses forward, as it is even losing the support of party members who are in protection mode to keep their seats in 2026. This is slipping away from Trump rather quickly, so they had better get this figured out, and quick, or we are going to see a freefall with no end in sight.
