Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem Caught In Trump Admin ICE Cleanup

Welp, we called it — the Trump administration’s routine strategy of spinning the fallout from violent immigration agents by smearing the victims and making the feds out to be innocent servants who are trying to do their jobs has backfired now that President Donald Trump and his MAGA-fied sycophants have tried to apply it to the killing of Minnesota health professional Alex Pretti.

Because video footage of Pretti’s shooting leaves no doubt that he was shot and killed unjustly and without necessity, it only made things worse for the federal government when its top officials, such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, immediately called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin,” and claimed he brandished a gun he never even touched with the intent to “do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

Now, the Trump administration is scrambling to walk back the rhetoric, distance the MAGA messiah from anything that has been said, and figure out who needs to be thrown under the bus so the administration can continue pretending it’s not the authoritarian “deep state” MAGA rubes are always complaining about.

As it turns out, Bovino’s is the first head on that chopping block, and Noem is apparently on thin ICE. (See what I did there?)

According to ABC News, Bovino — the mass deportation overseer who has been center stage in nearly every major city where federal agents have been deployed — is being sent back to El Centro, California, to resume his duties as chief of that sector, where he’s reportedly expected to retire soon.

Of course, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Bovino “has NOT been relieved of his duties,” and referred to him as a “key part of the President’s team and a great American,” but come on now…

Issa demotion, y’all!

Bovino was basically relieved from his command in Metropolis and sent back to Smallville. Darth Vader is one screw-up away from being busted down to regular-degular stormtrooper. Bovino is a bovine being put out to pasture.

And Noem might be next.

In fact, the New York Times reported that, on Monday, Trump held a two-hour meeting with Noem and her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, at the White House to discuss a shift in the administration’s strategy in Minnesota, according to two anonymous officials who said Noem wasn’t explicitly told her job was at risk, but she did face scrutiny in a meeting that was generally about how bad Pretti’s death and the government’s response has made the administration look. (Which is to say much worse than it already looked to most Americans, which was already bad.)

Meanwhile, according to the Washington Post, House Democrats are set to open an investigation into Noem, laying the groundwork to impeach her.

From the Post:

Unlike a typical congressional impeachment inquiry, Democrats plan to conduct their investigation without the majority party, citing the reticence of Republicans to conduct robust oversight of the Trump administration and the unlikelihood of GOP support for impeaching a Cabinet official.

Democrats acknowledge they are unlikely to remove Noem in the short term, but they believe launching an official investigation will signal they are taking seriously concerns about what has transpired during a deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota in recent weeks.

“We understand Democrats are in a minority, but that doesn’t mean that we have to sit on our thumbs and do nothing,” Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Mississippi), the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview. He said the investigation, and possibly an impeachment vote, is “a step in the process of letting people know that we don’t like what we see.”

But even GOP senators are calling for a fuller investigation into Pretti’s death, and even Fox News hosts and Sen. Ted “I left my wallet in Cancun” Cruz are criticizing the Trump administration over its response to Pretti’s death.

See, the administration thought its propaganda would be easily digested, at least by its base and party. The killing of Renee Nicole Good was the first test of how adept it would be at getting MAGA morons to deny what they see on video with their own eyes, and now that the lie has blown up in its face this time, officials are doing damage control and scapegoating whoever is expendable while trying to distance Trump himself from what has now become a scandal.

According to ABC, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked Monday if Trump agrees with Noem, Miller, Bovino, and others who claimed Pretti was attacking and trying to kill agents without presenting a shred of evidence to substantiate the narrative. As usual, Leavitt distanced Trump from the fallout by distancing herself from reality.

“Look, as I’ve said, I have not heard the president characterize Mr. Pretti in that way,” Leavitt said. “However, I have heard the president say he wants to let the facts in the investigation lead itself.”

First of all, not once in Trump’s political career has he ever waited for facts to come out before he says anything, nor has he ever indicated that he cares about facts at all, or that he would be able to recognize a fact if he did.

Secondly, while Trump may not have been as blatant with his attacks on Pretti as his top officials were, he did join the MAGA chorus by posting a photo of what was alleged to be Pretti’s gun — which, again, he never touched — along with a caption that read, “This is the gunman’s gun, loaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go – What is that all about? Where are the local Police? Why weren’t they allowed to protect ICE Officers?” before trailing off into some irrelevant nonsense about Rep. Ilhan Omar and her finances, which he later said the DOJ would be investigating for no discernable reason.

Trump also responded to Pretti’s killing by suggesting it wouldn’t have happened if people would “let our ICE patriots do their job,” ridding Minnesota of “12,000 illegal alien criminals,” and that if the people didn’t do so, they would experience “something far worse than you are witnessing today.”

So, he’s complicit. They all are. Trump and his minions have been lying about ICE and Border Patrol being “under siege” since the start of the administration’s crackdown on immigration, and yet, all we see is evidence of violent and volatile feds causing chaos and unrest everywhere they go.

And the usual propaganda routine simply isn’t working anymore. But what else does this administration even have?

SEE ALSO:

Trump Administration Blames Alex Pretti For His Own Death

Video: ICE Shoots And Kills US Citizen In Minneapolis. Again