Trump defends Renee Good killing: She was 'disrespectful' to ICE

President Donald Trump on Sunday moved the goalposts in order to defend the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed unarmed protester Renee Good in Minneapolis last Wednesday. 

Notably, Trump backed off of his lie that the ICE officer was injured, instead saying the agent was justified in using deadly force because Good was being "disrespectful."

"The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement," Trump told reporters on Air Force One after being asked if he thought the officer's use of force was warranted. "You saw that. They were harassing, they were following for days and for hours, and I think, frankly, they're professional agitators. And I'd like to find out and we are going to find out who's paying for it, with their brand new signs and all these different things. But these are professional agitators and law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff. What that woman and what her friend ... were doing to law enforcement ... is outrageous."

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Of course, Good and her wife were not paid protesters. They were concerned citizens appalled at the immigration raids Trump's ICE goons are carrying out across the country.

Even putting that aside, being "disrespectful" to law enforcement is not a crime punishable by death in the United States—at least not when the United States is run by a leader who respects the Constitution and isn't a wannabe dictator hell-bent on hurting anyone who looks or thinks differently.

As Trump shifted his rationale for why it was okay for federal agents to kill unarmed citizens, new videos of ICE's broader actions in Minneapolis appear to show that officers are using Good's death to try to deter Minnesotans from filming and protesting their conduct—a sickening escalation that further delves this country into autocracy.

In one recorded interaction, a masked agent with Border Patrol tells a woman in her car to stop following agents and honking her horn, telling her she has a "very high probability of making a really bad decision," adding that she could "ruin" her life if she continued. That sure sounds like a threat.

In another video, an agent tells a woman recording his actions, "Listen, have y'all not learned from the past couple of days, have you not learned?" When the woman asks what lesson she is supposed to take, the agent then tries to take her phone away.

And in yet another video, a Border Patrol agent seemingly starts a confrontation with a protester filming ICE's conduct—something Americans are legally allowed to do thanks to the First Amendment. After the agent forcibly pushes the man away, a group of ICE agents then run up to violently tackle and subdue the man.

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It should go without saying that filming ICE's conduct or protesting their actions is not grounds to be violently manhandled, arrested, or killed.

Yet Republicans continue to excuse ICE's actions, lining up to defend the agent and Trump's own policies

“This protesting that goes on, honking of horns, obstructing federal law enforcement should not be tolerated, and it is my hope that our men and women who are in ICE will continue to keep their cool about what they do,” Rep. Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas, said in an interview on Newsmax.

But while Trump and Republicans excuse ICE’s abhorrent behavior, even some law enforcement officers say ICE’s actions are making this country less safe.

“This is what breaks down the trust of law enforcement across the board. Everybody pays a price for what you just saw," said Chris Swanson, the sheriff of Michigan's Genesee County and a Democratic candidate for governor. “When you have the authority over people, and it’s used as a weapon, not a tool, it hurts all of us. That’s what’s happened.”

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