THE DEATH OF RENEE GOOD AND THE MEDIA'S DECADES-LONG OBLIVIOUSNESS PROBLEM

A phalanx of heavily armed immigration goons approached Renee Good's vehicle yesterday in Minneapolis, then one of them fatally shot her as she tried to drive away. Two narratives of the incident emerged: one in which Good's worst offense was to disobey law enforcement -- not a death-penalty crime, and one that, according to ICE's own policies, doesn't justify shooting into a moving vehicle -- although there have been nine such shootings since September -- and one in which Good weaponized the vehicle and attempted to do bodily harm to ICE officers. It should be obvious from the video evidence which narrative is accurate and which is a series of falsehoods put forth by in support of a president who's a known pathological liar, in the interests of preserving not only his dominance but that of his party, which routinely distorts the facts in order to maintain a grasp on power:

On the one hand multiple videos from various angles and multiple eyewitnesses, on the other hand self-interested statements from Administration officials, who’s to say where the truth lies.

— Missing The Point (@missingthept.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 6:41 AM

And yet the media keeps struggling to present this as anything other than a "they-said/they-said" story. Here's AP:

While President Donald Trump’s administration described the killing of a 37-year-old mother as an act of self-defense amid his latest immigration crackdown, Minneapolis officials have disputed that narrative.

CNN:

State and local officials disputed claims that the shooting was done in self-defense. Multiple videos of the shooting reviewed by CNN show nuance.

To its credit, The New York Times has posted a video story titled "Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minneapolis."

An analysis of footage from three camera angles shows that the motorist was driving away from — not toward — a federal officer when he opened fire.

It's a solid, thorough analysis, and it unambiguously concludes that Good wasn't trying to ram an ICE agent. But prior to that, the paper treated the administration's claims as potentially credible:

Federal immigration officials said that an ICE agent shot and killed Ms. Good in self-defense. They said her vehicle was driving toward the agent and she had refused to cooperate when ordered to stop.

That explanation was sharply dismissed by many people in Minneapolis, a liberal-leaning city where suspicion of Mr. Trump and his immigration crackdown is fierce.

Yeah, the locals said the administration was lying, though keep in mind that they're a bunch of liberal malcontents.

What's frustrating about this is that the administration isn't just offering a "nuanced" reading of the video evidence -- it's attempting to build up a level of outrage against the victim and her supporters using a narrative that's glaringly at odds with the facts, but consistent with right-wing conspiracy theories.

This started early, with Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin insisting on Twitter that "rioters" were "blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle."

The narrative advanced by President Trump on Truth Social was wildly at odds with reality:

I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.

I know we've all just decided that Gramps tells a few stretchers now and again and that's no reason to conclude that everything his administration says is self-serving culture-war disinformation. But the "professional agitator" slander (with "paid by George Soros" left unstated) has been echoed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem:

Noem: "People need to stop using their vehicles as weapons ... it's clear that it's being coordinated. People are being trained"

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 7, 2026 at 6:34 PM

We know that these people lie brazenly. We know that Trump told 30,573 lies in a first term that was restrained by comparison with this one. So why start from the premise that the administration is, or even might be, speaking in good faith, and should be assumed to be doing so until proven otherwise? Why aren't their words under a cloud of suspicion at all times?

This isn't unique to Trump. Republicans and the right have been lying shamelessly for decades, all for partisan advantage, yet the media persists in assuming that they make every argument in good faith. Really? After Saddam's WMDs and "We don't torture" and the besmirching of John Kerry, after ACORN and the Ground Zero mosque, after birtherism, after decades of lies about "voter fraud" going back to at least the Bush administration, and on and on into Trump's election trutherism and January 6, and now the lies about January 6.... When will the media wake up to the fact that these people lie as a first recourse, because it works?