After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, a great many Republican officials scrambled to defend the shooter and blame the victim. Some in the party, however, went much further — and took aim at dissent itself.
Republican Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, for example, appeared on NewsNation just two days after Good’s death and told viewers, “People need to quit demonstrating, quit yelling at law enforcement, challenging law enforcement, and begin to get civil. And until we do that, I guess we’re going to have it this way. And the people that are staying in their homes or doing the right thing need to be protected.”
As a rule, “people need to quit demonstrating” is not the sort of statement American leaders make — demonstrations are part of the fabric that helps define who we are as a people — but Williams wasn’t alone.
A fellow Texan, GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt, also told Newsmax last week, “The bottom line is this: When a federal officer gives you instructions, you abide by them and then you get to keep your life.”
On Sunday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper and asked, “The question is, why are we arguing with a president who’s working to keep people safe?”
It was a rhetorical question, but the answer is that (a) the Trump-ordered ICE raids are not, in fact, keeping people safe; and (b) in a free country, we’re still allowed to argue with a president.
But to fully appreciate the party’s message, consider what happened when Donald Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night when he was asked whether he still believes “deadly force was necessary” in the incident that killed Goode.








