WHEN YOU LIVE IN A RIGHT-WING BUBBLE, YOU LOSE YOUR ABILITY TO TALK TO NORMAL PEOPLE

I keep thinking about this CNN story with the headline "Trump Privately Frustrated That He Risks Losing Control of Immigration Message Amid Minnesota Chaos."

The ongoing protests and images coming out of Minnesota have prompted concerns from some Trump administration officials over the optics of the immigration crackdown as Americans grow alarmed by the chaotic scenes unfolding in the state.

President Donald Trump has expressed frustration behind closed doors that the immigration messaging is getting lost, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

The Trumpers are saying, Who are you going believe -- your lying eyes or our narrative? because they've spent years communicating only with their own supporters -- on Fox, on right-wing podcasts, on X -- and their persuasion muscles have completely atrophied. They're used to communicating with people who automatically assume that the GOP narrative is correct, because gthey believe that anyone opposed to Trump and Republicans is evil. In the Trumpist bubble, no one will watch the videos that clearly show Renee Good steering away from ICE officers; they limit themselves to the videos that fit the Trump administration's narrative because they're already inclined to hate ICE critics like Good and her partner.

Children are being seized by ICE? The president and administration officials aren't used to having to persuade Americans that brown people who have pending asylum claims, like five-year-old Liam Ramos and parents, are bad by definition. The people in their bubble already believe that. They already believe every brown-skinned asylum seeker is a threat to U.S. sovereignty. The Trump administration doesn't know how to make this case because the Trump base considers the case closed.

Trump has sought to take control of the narrative, starting with an impromptu press conference on the anniversary of his first year in office.

The president, at times sounding exasperated, thumbed through mugshots of individuals arrested in his immigration crackdown, highlighting their alleged crimes. His message was clear that while there might be some issues, ICE is necessary to follow through on his agenda — to deport the most dangerous criminals back to their home country.

But we don't see "the worst of the worst" being arrested. We see children being arrested. We see white protesters being arrested. We see ordinary immigrant workers being arrested. We see citizens of the "wrong" ethnicities being arrested. The Trumpers don't understand that normal people see a disconnect between their stated goal and what they're actually doing. The people they're used to talking to don't see the disconnect -- they think all immigrants are evil by definition and all protesters are violent terrorists paid by George Soros. Recall that a statement made by Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in the immediate aftermath of Renee Good's murder said that "rioters" were "blocking ICE officers" and referred to Good as "one of these violent rioters." The Republican base literally believes that a riot was taking place in the minutes leading up to Good's death, even though they haven't seen a single video showing protesters doing anything other than shouting and filming.

And recall what Trump said about ICE agents in that press conference (emphasis added):

“They’re going to make mistakes sometimes. ICE is going to be too rough with somebody or — you know, they’re dealing with rough people — or they’re going to make a mistake sometimes. It can happen. We feel terribly.”

They don't understand that normal Americans watch what's happening in Minnesota and don't see "rough people." They can't grasp this because the people in their base thinks they're actually seeing "rough people."

We're told:

... top White House officials have been plotting how to move the narrative away from the unrest in Minneapolis and instead focus on what they view as ICE’s achievements.

“There’s an effort underway to come up with new ideas and new ways to amplify the good work they are doing,” a senior White House official told CNN....

Do you know how ordinary law enforcement agencies show that they're rounding up "the worst of the worst"? They hold press conferences showing seized caches of weapons, bundles of cash, bricks of drugs. The Trump administration can't do that because ICE's mandate is arresting the most, not arresting the worst. If the administration wants praise, it needs to start prioritizing arrests of really bad people. But that's not what Stephen Miller wants, so it won't happen.

I wonder if Trump will eventually decide that Stephen Miller is a liability because his heavy-handed, merciless tactics make Trump look bad. It seems doubtful -- many top aides found themselves in Trump's doghouse in his first term, and some have in the second term, But Miller has never been on the outs with Trump.

I don't think Trump will ever understand why his government acts are offputting to normal people because, apart from some outreach to swing voters in the 2024 campaign, Trump hasn't tried communicating with normal people in years.