Point-Blank ICE Shooting in Minneapolis: Competing Stories and National Consequences
What we know, what we don’t, and the questions that matter most. Plus: What Does “Taking” Greenland Even Mean? And a Q & A with former Amb. to Denmark Rufus Gifford
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We’ve had a month of news in just three days. The headlines are relentless and while we’d love to walk through all of it, two stories demand our focus today.
First: the shocking lethal shooting of a Minnesota resident by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. We get into this in detail below.
Second: the administration threatening to take Greenland. The White House says the US “needs” Greenland for national security and is threatening to use the military to get it. Denmark and Germany have said any US attempt to annex Greenland could trigger NATO’s defense pact — meaning our allies are gaming out open conflict with us — or end NATO as we know it.
I spoke with Rufus Gifford, former US Ambassador to Denmark under President Obama, about why this policy is “reckless and careless,” how Europe is reacting, and the strategic reality: the US can get everything it wants from Greenland — rare earth minerals, expanded military presence, Arctic access — without threatening our oldest allies. He says all we have to do is ask. On the other hand, he argues, this aggression could drive “a stake through the heart” of our most vital alliances. Watch that interview here:
There was other news today. Rob and Michelle Reiner’s son Nick was due to be arraigned, but his defense attorney Alan Jackson asked the judge’s “permission to withdraw as counsel.” The US seized two vessels allegedly linked to Venezuela including a Russian-flagged tanker. Officials say it was part of a shadow fleet Russia is using to illegally sell oil to fund the Ukraine war in violation of sanctions. And, HHS Secretary RFK updated US dietary guidelines to encourage Americans to eat more red meat and full fat dairy, while cutting back on processed food and sugar. Apparently federal nutrition policy is indistinguishable from a biohacker's Substack, but that’s a story for another day.
It’s only January 7th.
Here are your headlines:
Echoes of 2020: Minneapolis is in the national spotlight yet again, this time after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman at point blank range. The woman was 37 year old Renee Nicole Good, a mother of a young child.
Woman Killed by ICE: Trigger warning: Graphic content. Video taken at the scene shows ICE agents in a residential street with bystanders heckling and videotaping them. A burgundy SUV is at a standstill seemingly blocking the ICE cars from driving forward. A vehicle pulls up; several agents rush to the burgundy SUV and one demands the driver either “get out of here” or “get out of the car.” An agent appears to reach into the driver’s window and another positions himself toward the front of the car. The SUV reverses for a moment, then pulls forward. As it does, two or three bullets are fired. Bystanders start screaming “What the fuck, you just – what did you just fucking do?” “shame!” and “murder!” The car crashes into other cars. Images of the empty car later show blood on a deployed airbag. In video apparently taken shortly after the shooting a man who identifies himself as a doctor asks if he can tend to the victim. “We have our own medics,” an agent says as he blocks access. Another woman says she’s a neighbor and screams “Where are they? Where are they"?” Speaking to CNN, Sen Tina Smith said ICE vehicles blocking the road prevented an ambulance from reaching them.
“One of the Kindest People I’ve Ever Known” Renee Nicole Good’s mother, Donna Granger, spoke with the Minnesota Star Tribune. She told the paper her daughter was “one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.” Granger called her, “extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.’ Good leaves behind a young son, about five years old. Her mother said she was not involved in anti-ICE protests.
Who Gets to Define What Happened? DHS Secretary Kristi Noem quickly justified the shooting. In a press conference, Noem claimed the victim “attacked” the ICE agents, “attempting to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle,” and that the agent acted to protect himself. She called it an “act of domestic terrorism.” On Truth Social, President Trump blamed the “radical left” for “threatening, assaulting and targeting our law enforcement officers.” He also said the agent who fired the weapon is recovering in the hospital but video shows a healthy looking ICE agent walking the scene after the incident; many witnesses identified him online as the shooter. Minnesota leaders are accusing ICE of creating chaos making Minneapolis “less safe.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called the official account “bullshit” and told ICE to “get the f–k out of Minneapolis”. Governor Walz also rejected DHS’ narrative as “propaganda,” and announced he’s put the state National Guard on alert. He called the shooting a “have you no shame” moment. He’s invoking the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings in which Army counsel Joseph Welch’s question, “have you no sense of decency, sir” punctured McCarthy’s image and led to the end of his reign of oppression. It’s may be optimistic to think this will have a similar outcome.
Vigils, Anger, and a Country Split Online Hundreds are gathering for vigils and protests in Minneapolis. Here are AP photos of the scene. The divergent narratives are evident on social media with right-leaning accounts posting, “This is what happens when you use a vehicle as a WEAPON AGAINST ICE,” “Don’t attack ICE agents and you won’t be shot,” and insisting “Democrats and the media are encouraging violence on law enforcement. It must end.” Left-leaning accounts are blasting ICE for “murder,” accusing federal agents of acting like “f—ng Nazi’s,” and insisting today is proof that “the United States has turned on its citizens.”
A Crackdown Collides With a Community: DHS dispatched 2000 agents to Minneapolis as part of what the administration calls a crackdown on welfare fraud in the Somali community. This is ICE’s biggest operation since Trump’s mass deportation program started. The shooting took place blocks from the site of George Floyd’s kiling. One neighbor, interviewed by national media, said the scene and growing protests remind him of the reaction to the Floyd protests. He also said he considers himself “pretty right leaning” but is bothered by what happened. “This isn’t how we do things around here in America.
Greenland: From Punchline to NATO Crisis: Today Sen. Thom Tillis, the top Republican on the Senate’s NATO observer group, called White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s talk of “taking” Greenland “absurd,” “immature” and “amateurish”. Still, the administration is openly weighing how to acquire the island. Days after U.S. special operations forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months. Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days” — a vague deadline that, paired with the Venezuela raid, has turned European concern into open alarm.
Say What? The White House now says it is “actively discussing” a “range of options” for acquiring Greenland — stressing that “utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal” and calling control of the island a “national security priority” to counter Russia and China in the Arctic. Deputy White House chief of Staff Stephen Miller has gone further in public. In a CNN interview, he said Greenland “should be part of the United States” and argued “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily” over it, describing today’s world as one “governed by strength, by force, by power.” In response to Miller’s comments about Greenland, Sen Thom Tillis said: “I’m sick of stupid,” insisting Miller “does not speak for the U.S. government” and should “stay in his lane.” House Speaker Mike Johnson called military action “not appropriate” — but did not encourage the administration to drop the idea of “taking” Greenland altogether.
In the rest of the newsletter: Europe’s response to the White House’s threats, what the White House isn’t saying, and some breaking news about my dog, Bruno. This is for paying subscribers.
