Why Donald Trump is telling such obvious lies on the ICE Minneapolis killing
By: Tim Kenyon (The Conversation)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By now, many of us have probably seen the video of a Minneapolis woman whose last words were a calm "It's fine, dude; I'm not mad at you," before she was shot three times in the head as she turned her car to drive away from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Renee Good "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense."
Vice-President JD Vance declared "the reason this woman is dead is because she tried to ram somebody with her car… You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that."
These statements, and others that doubled down on them, were made even as videos showing they were clearly false were in wide circulation.
It's puzzling. Why lie in a situation like this? Who can you hope to deceive, when evidence falsifying your statements is freely available?
Protesters gather at the shooting site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 10, 2026.(AP Photo/John Locher)
Seeing is not believing?
Our work on authoritarian public discourse stresses that there are multiple answers to this question, partly because there are many different audiences of mass communication. We need to come to grips with the multiple functions of obvious falsehoods like these to understand why they are made so often and so prominently, and how they serve authoritarian leaders.
First, something that seems obvious to you can be credible to others. How? Because in an era of algorithmic news feeds, we are not all getting the same news. Those with a newsfeed of nothing but MAGA influencers are in a different epistemic bubble from other people.
And they may well be in an echo chamber, in which opposing voices are so discredited that when an alternative narrative reaches them, it's immediately dismissed.
Millions of people may not have seen the videos of the incident at all, or may have seen versions with instructions on how to interpret the visuals: she's not turning around, she's backing up in preparation to ram into the shooter; she's not calmly indicating that she isn't a threat, she's refusing to comply with orders.
Videos of police using force often have this dual nature: they can document and prove wrongdoing; but they can also be used to train citizens to see threats where there are none.
Footage of the last moments of Renee Good's life. (The Canadian Press)
Authoritarian tactics
Some people will find the lies too obvious to be plausible attempts at deception. Yet bald-faced lies are important in strongman politics.
Authoritarians can display their power by asserting obvious falsehoods, showing that they cannot be held to account. They also play to their base by showing contempt for a shared enemy, while demanding displays of loyalty and compliance from underlings.
Officials are forced to engage in the humiliating ritual of repeating what we call compliance lies. Think here of White House press secretary Sean Spicer at the start of Trump's first term, forced to defend absurd lies about Trump's and Obama's inauguration crowds.
An image of the inauguration of President Donald Trump is displayed behind White House press secretary Sean Spicer as he speaks at the White House in January 2017 in Washington.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
At the time, this may have seemed merely buffoonish. What's happened since illustrates how dangerous this can be as the subject of the lies has changed to matters concerning life and death.
Other people may simply become confused by obvious lies. The competing interpretations of the Minneapolis video are diametrically opposed. Once news sites and social media feeds are sufficiently populated by these opposing views, it can feel like an overwhelming task to discern what's really true.
And exposing a lie still doesn't end its influence. It is easier to create an opinion with a lie than to undo that opinion when the lie is debunked, something known to psychologists as the continued influence effect.
Filling social media feeds with falsehoods to create confusion is a crucial part of the strategy that Steve Bannon, a Republican strategist and former Trump adviser, called "flooding the zone with shit." This can leave people unsure of who to trust, what to believe, or even what the issue really is.
'Both sides' reporting
Relatively savvy and good-faith entities can be used as instruments of this strategy. In the name of neutrality and balance, centrist news media can fall back on a "both sides" model that frames stories mainly in terms of what each side is saying.
When one side commits to obvious lies, this approach obligingly repeats those lies while outsourcing the fact-checking to the opposing side, as if it were merely a partisan dispute.
Read more: Why Donald Trump is such a relentless bullshitter
These duelling narratives can then become the story. The strategy to lie shifts focus away from the shooting itself, in this incident, and onto the alleged controversy.
In other words, obvious lies aren't necessarily failed lies. They can confuse, distract, excite and intimidate a range of audiences. They can also be believed, no matter how obviously false they seem.
To treat them as mere indications of shamelessness or incompetence on the part of the liar is to overlook the serious harm they can do and the appeal they have in authoritarian politics.
Trolling, taunting, spamming, and off topic comments may be removed at the discretion of group mods. NT members that are known plagiarists, repeat comments, or continue to disrupt/deflect the conversation risk having all of their comments deleted. Please remember to quote the person(s) to whom you are replying to preserve continuity of this seed. Any use of the phrase "Trump Derangement Syndrome" or the TDS acronym in a comment will be deleted. Any use of the term "Brandon", "Traitor Joe", or any variations thereof, when referring to President Biden, will be deleted. Right wing trolls can expect to have their irrelevant questions and comments deleted. Posting debunked lies will be subject to deletion. Use of the terms "leftist" or "lefty" will also be subject to deletion. ©
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Good people are debating that and calling you a fat faced liar you roly poly piece of shit. I could ask what they gain in lying about all this but I know what they are gaining. The article tells you. It's in the Authoritarian Handbook
Jacob Frey admitted the agent was hit by the car. How hard is debatable, but that gives him the right to self defense.
From what I heard of his statement it was tongue in cheek. Y' know kinda when your kind says trmp is just joking
it might be a good idea for the trump supporters still left to have their social security numbers tattooed on 3 different locations on their torsos, so that their next of kin will have closure in the future ...
And the first post from a Trump supporter is a lie.
Johnathan Ross walked away, not even limping... leaving Good dead.
did you expect anything else?
Bullshit!
Not only is it in the Authoritarian Handbook, it was predicted by George Orwell's 1984.
What we now see with the government's treatment of the murder of Renee Good is a stellar example of BLACKWHITE. It does seem, does it not, that Orwell's 1984 has become the literary authoritarian "Playbook" of the present administration.
Even Joe Rogan is condemning "trump's Gestapo" tactics by ICE employees.
This partial sentence struck a nerve with me:
I am totally convinced that MAGA get an email every morning from the Dark Lord that tells them how to interpret the things they see and hear
MAGA is very discontent with the fact that people have eyeballs. MAGA sees with its ears.
Deaf ears
Is this Minnesota state senator MAGA?
Western Lensman on X: "MN Dem State Rep Aisha Gomez says she hasn’t watched latest DHS “propaganda video" because it won’t change her mind on what happened. “A masked federal agent ex*cute(d) someone in the street during the morning commute." The facts are irrelevant to the narrative. https://t.co/mdonXxlLRl" / X
gee, considering all the deer rifles with scopes in minnesota, I don't understand how ICE is getting away with this. but I can hardly wait for trump's maga gestapo to attempt this bullshit in denver ...
Maybe they knew better. ICE was already there in February and there is an ICE building in Denver.
Maybe you were on vacation during that time...
With ICE agents going door-to-door in Colorado, residents are on edge: Reporter's notebook - ABC News
Wonder why so many illegal people in Minnesota have such a problem of being arrested because they have broken the law???
Better yet - why does the Dem/Lib parties have such a problem with continually breaking laws???
Good people don't even consider killing other people, not even evil people. Killing people is wrong, evil, a sin...
So I guess... Johnathan and his brethren are not good people...
Hi, 1st...
Do you think that Trump's ICE is targeting non-Whites?
Question has nothing to do with the thread, but the answer is Illegal Aliens not non-Whites.
Yeah... He fast-tracks White Afrikaners - even sends planes to bring them over, so I guess they're "legal".
He throws roadblocks in front of all non-Whites, so I guess they're "illegal".
My God, 1st! How can you continue to force yourself to not see???
that story is nearly a year old, back when your bag of shit hero first started his venezuelan gang propaganda lies about denver. I've been to the denver ICE building, twice, to help keep members of my extended family from becoming railroaded by incompetent fascists that had illegally changed their immigrant status, twice, after they had waited nearly 3 years for their hearing. fortunately, there's now an immigration lawyer in the family that retired before the nazi's took over DC, along with a paralegal in law school. looks like suing the trump administration for violating the constitutional rights of people is becoming a lucrative business ...
I think magas should pay very close attention to what happens in other places around the world where religious based dictatorships send masked and uniformed thugs to violently dissuade protesters.
Jacob Frey admitted the agent was hit by the car. How hard is debatable, but that gives him the right to self defense.
Not if the car was driving away from him, which it clearly was.
That is a lie. That is twice now that you have posted a blatant lie.
it's a maga thing ...
You're challenging this website's preeminent legal "expert". You could fill a book with his legal opinions.
and the next lie in any of my seeds gets deleted
... gonna be a shitload of deletions...
trump's unconstitutional bullshit is what the career maga vets are defending, instead of the constitution ...
fucking hilarious.
This is why the country is as fucked up as it is right now.
How did I know you would pick out that "both sides" sentence?
"It's fine, dude; I'm not mad at you," before she was shot three times in the head as she turned her car to drive into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
Fixed it for you.
She was hit by two bullets - not three. One bullet hit the dash.
She was a PAID protestor who had dropped her kids off at a daycare center - (wonder if it was Somalian) so she could lead a vehicular blockade against ICE - as stated by friends and accomplishers of the planned protest.
removed for context by charger
Need to review your review of the videos - the agent was in center front of her vehicle.
Yeah just run with preconceived notions and reject anything (in this case, clear convincing footage) that contradicts that.
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You offer an anonymous, long opinion blaming the victim. And here you defend the officer with the claim (unsubstantiated) that he could not see which way the wheels were turned (or how the car itself was turning).
And you totally ignore the fact that the agent drew his gun and positioned himself to fire instead of simply walking away per protocol.
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The video from the shooter clearly shows she is turning the steering wheel to the right. If he was looking at her through the windshield he had to have been able to see this also.
The world has enough hatred in it without succumbing to this made up hatred that is purely for political power. We can no longer say that "It can't happen Here," because it is already happening.
Do you recognize that he was holding his cell phone in his left hand? That is not a body cam, it was at the end of his outstretched hand.
Again, you are trying to defend the officer while ignoring the clear video that shows exactly where he was positioned.
That's exactly what I fucking said.
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Yeah, there are quite a few videos. I believe I have watched all of them multiple times now.
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Then do so, 1st. I have watched all the public available videos multiple times. Have you?
You are projecting blindness.
... regurgitating the fascist lies script.
not exactly all hot dogs, chevrolets, and apple pie ...
There you go blaming the victim.
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For intentionally ignoring a lawful request/demand???
Yeah - must be the going thing now-a-days.
Do you hold that a human being should be killed for not obeying an ICE officer's demand to get out of her car?
Ya know - Chubby Checker wrote/sang a song dedicated to your form of discussion - remember it? "Let's Twist Again".
You have no argument, just fatuous quips. The fact that you cannot rebut my points should tell you something.
it seems that no maga can answer a direct question or credibly defend what ICE agents did. what I find so interesting is that 2 of them here claim to be retired career military and have foreign born wives ...
Maybe when the wives are assaulted by ICE...
I can find no credible link that supports your claim that she was a paid protestor.
Are you parroting Trump here or do you have sound evidence underlying your claim?
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Renee Good was distracted by her own dialogue with an ICE employee who attempted to first open her locked door, second touched her arm, then yelled as she back up and he was pushed back by the mirror.
Meanwhile there's a large dog pacing and whining in the back seat, with the right rear passenger window all the down, as Good's partner also tried to renter the right front door but found it locked. She yelled "get out of here baby: or something to that effect.
Then Renee is turning the wheel to the right and looking to the right, beginning to accelerate or at least let the car start rolling forward.
The second agent starts to reach in to grab the steering wheel when Ross shoots Good through the windshield; he yanks his hand back and steps away from the car.
As the car rolls past Ross, he shoots Good two more times through the window from a distance of less than a foot?
Even Joe Rogan whose been carrying Charlie Kirks cross since Kirk's unfortunate assassination, condemned Trump, his ICE agency and their Gestapo tactics.
Almost immediately, in spite of decades and decades of "wait for the investigation" by every other alphabet agency, Bondi and Trump were circling the wagons with live "press conferences'" slandering Good and praising Ross while framing him as the victim.
Now only the FBI, led by goofy Patel Kash is allowed to "investigate" the "incident" with out help from the DOJ, US ATTY for Minnesota or any Minnesota legal authority, stae or local.
F A C I S M
If it isn't here now, it's certainly right around the corner.
It is authoritarianism at least. With clear signs of fascism. Hard to believe that this kind of crap is happening in our nation.
All comments in this seed that continues with the lie that Ms Good intended to hit the monster with her car will be deleted with extreme prejudice
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