By Bob Gaydos

A protestor in Minneapolis. AP photo

 Catching up after snowmageddon with a cautious sense of optimism that America has finally awakened to the moral rot festering at the core of its existence. The sad thing is it took the murder of two innocent American citizens in broad daylight on the streets of one of the nation’s leading cities by agents of the federal government — and the subsequent clumsy attempt by government officials to place blame for their deaths on the victims themselves — to arouse this awakening.   

   That to me is the real problem. The malaise, the laziness, the apathy, the entitlement, the irresponsibility, the selfishness, the fear, the lack of awareness and, bluntly, sometimes the utter stupidity on the part of millions of Americans that has allowed the likes of Donald Trump and his coterie of greedy, amoral, bigoted, lying vermin to turn this nation into a festering pool of anger and violence that keeps putting money in their bank accounts.

   Too harsh? It’s not for nothing that Trump once said, “I love the poorly educated.”

    The truth is, without the votes of millions of Americans who know and care nothing about how government works and were enthralled by the phony persona of a TV pitchman and the millions of non-votes by Americans who think that “all politicians are alike“ and don’t understand that the freedom and other benefits they enjoy by living in this country depends on their participation, Trump and his mob would not be in power. He’d probably be in prison.

    And Renee Good and Alex Pretti would likely be alive.

    The shooting deaths of the two Minneapolis residents by ICE agents were captured on video by bystanders. They showed clearly that neither one of the victims did anything to provoke or threaten the ICE goons. Yet the Trump administration immediately targeted both victims as terrorists and threats to their killers.

    This time, however, the lies backfired. Thanks to cell phones and social media, people, even the true Trump believers, could see for themselves what happened. Heck, even the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post could see it. Two American citizens were shot dead in the streets by federal agents who are poorly trained at best and were likely lured to apply for the job by a $50,000 signing bonus and the opportunity to wear all kinds of military gear, a mask and a badge and the freedom to shove and threaten, kidnap and beat people at will without regard to their safety, much less the law. Even a couple of Republican lawmakers noticed.

   So things are calmed down in Minneapolis for now, Democrats are threatening to cut off funding for ICE and a lot of Americans suddenly realized it wasn’t only “immigrants“ who should be wary of the government.

   But as Trump typically backpedals when his bluster and BS don’t work, what happens now? Will demonstrations against ICE continue around the country? Will Republican lawmakers be held accountable for allowing a clearly cognitively declining Trump to continue his assault on America? Will ICE be abolished? Will Kristi Noem be fired? 

     A few years back another Minneapolis resident, George Floyd, was killed by agents of the government – Minneapolis police. The Black Lives Matter movement came and went, but not before prompting a Blue Lives Matter reaction. Unlike the thousands of non-white, Spanish-speaking immigrants and those of other nationalities who are lawfully in this country or at least leading a productive, law-abiding life and have been kidnapped and locked up by ICE, Renee Good and Alex Pretti were white, non-immigrant, English-speaking American citizens. Americans are in revolt.

     Coincidence?

     We’ll find out soon enough if this is a true moment of moral clarity for America or just more of the same selective attitude towards that “All men are created equal” line we like to brag about.

     Honestly, sticking with my cautious optimism and acknowledging the law of unintended consequences, sometimes it takes the wrong motivation to realize the right outcome. In this case, I can live with that. It’s a lesson America would be much better off for learning.