Original article by republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
President Donald Trump takes questions at his Mar-a-Lago estate on December 22, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
“The right-wing bullshit machine is operating at full steam and across all cylinders today,” said one critic.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday posted an account of the deadly shooting in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer that was completely at odds with all evidence seen so far.
In a post on Truth Social, the president claimed that the woman killed in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” him, forcing him to fire his weapon at her in self-defense.
Trump further claimed that it “is hard to believe” that the ICE officer “is alive” after being supposedly run over.
Eyewitness videos taken at the scene of the incident, however, do not show the officer getting run over at all. In fact, the officer can be seen walking around after discharging his weapon, with no signs of any injury.
In fact, the video Trump posted on his Truth Social that he claims shows the officer being run over does not at all show the officer being run over, but rather stepping safely out of the way as the car starts moving forward.
The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent carefully examined the video posted by Trump and concluded that it “demonstrates nothing close to what” the president claimed it showed.
“This is a sick, malicious lie from Trump,” Sargent commented.
Reporter Sam Stein of the Bulwark also provided a swift debunking of Trump’s claims.
“Hard to believe the ICE officer is still alive, writes the president,” Stein wrote on X, “of an ICE officer who was not hit at all and was well enough to go run down the street to check on the woman he had killed.”
John Hopkins University economist Filipe Campante was struck by just how little effort the president feels he needs to exert to make his lies convincing.
“That he chooses the ‘me or your lying eyes?’ approach, in the full knowledge that there are multiple videos out there, is a striking commentary on the nature of propaganda in the modern information environment,” Campante wrote on Bluesky. “Censorship is no longer viable, so the approach is to use your own content provision to drown out any negative facts/evidence.”
Tour guide and author Ben Edwards marveled at the president’s ability to make completely fact-free assertions.
“The country is slowly starting to come apart,” Edwards observed. “Trump lives in an alternate reality. He cannot speak a word of truth.”
Disinformation researcher Kate Starbird warned that Trump’s low-effort propaganda was still likely to prove effective with his followers.
“The right-wing bullshit machine is operating at full steam and across all cylinders today,” Starbird wrote, “strategically framing the horrific ICE killing of a Minnesota woman to defend/bolster their political aims. For example, Trump’s message… will shape how his supporters (willfully mis)interpret the video evidence.”
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
An onlooker holds a sign that reads “Shame” as members of law enforcement work the scene following a suspected shooting by an ICE agent during federal law enforcement operations on January 07, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
This a developing story… Please check back for possible updates… WARNING: This post includes graphic footage of the shooting which some people may find disturbing…
Residents of Minneapolis reacted with fury on Wednesday after a woman was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent.
Emily Heller, a Minneapolis resident who witnessed the shooting, told Minnesota Public Radio that she saw a federal agent confronting a woman who was sitting in her car and telling her to leave the area during an immigration enforcement operation in the neighborhood.
“She was trying to turn around, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in,” Heller told MPR. “And he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times.”
The identity of the woman shot by the agent has not yet been released, but US Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) wrote in a social media post that the woman was a US citizen.
The senator also said that “ICE should leave now for everyone’s safety.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is also demanding that ICE leave the city, according to a post from the city’s official X account.
US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) echoed Smith and Frey’s calls for ICE to get out of Minneapolis.
“ICE must stop terrorizing our communities and leave our city,” she wrote in a social media post.
Others condemned the shooting as a clear case of criminal excessive force that should be treated as murder.
“This is an execution plain and simple,” said journalist Krystal Ball in reaction to footage of the killing. “If your Trump love or immigrant hatred has you justifying murder, please seek help.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz released a statement saying that his public safety team “is working to gather information on an ICE related shooting this morning,” while vowing to “share information as we learn more.”
“In the meantime, I ask folks to remain calm,” Walz added.
One witness, who was in the neighborhood to act as a legal observer, described horrifying scenes to local reporters:
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, put out a statement acknowledging that an ICE officer had fatally shot the woman and accused her of engaging in “domestic terrorism.”
“ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism,” the agency claimed, without providing any evidence. “An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement, and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”
Video footage from scene as well as testimony from witnesses, however, betrayed the agency’s version of events. As one social media user said, posting the following video, “Does this look like what you’re claiming?”
A separate video from a different angle (Warning: graphic footage), also shows that the individual in the car was trying to turn the vehicle away from officers, not harm anyone:
Federal officials in the past have made statements about incidents involving protesters that have been flatly contradicted by officers’ own body camera footage.
In November, federal prosecutors dropped assault charges against Marimar Martinez, a woman who was shot multiple times by a US Border Patrol agent in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, weeks after her attorney claimed to have seen body camera footage that completely undercut officers’ claims.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Graffiti that reads in Spanish: ‘Trump: murderer, kidnapper, pedophile, damned,’ (left), and ‘Long live peace,’ covers a kiosk during a march to demand President Nicolas Maduro’s return, in Caracas, Venezuela, January 6, 2026
THE United States is demanding that Venezuela cut all its economic ties with China, Russia, Iran and Cuba, according to a US news report.
This comes as President Donald Trump insists that the US is poised to sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.
ABC News reported on Tuesday that Washington had sent a demand to Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez for her government to “kick out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever economic ties” with those nations.
The report also said the White House was demanding that Caracas agree to “exclusive co-operation with the US in the field of oil production.”
…
Mr Trump claimed that the US would assume interim governance of Venezuela and that Washington would secure compensation from Caracas for US companies affected by the previous nationalisation of the country’s oil industry.
The far-right president said on Tuesday that Venezuela would provide 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, claiming proceeds from the sale of this oil would be used “to benefit the people” of both countries.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
OUTRAGE: Protesters hold signs calling for the release of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro outside Manhattan Federal Court before his arraignment in New York, on Monday January 5
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western outrage was absolute. Yet today, the tone is markedly more subdued regarding US aggression against Venezuela. The manner in which the media and politicians frame this invasion exposes a profound ideological double standard, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
… During the invasion of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky was immediately crowned the ultimate champion of democracy. Pre-war criticisms of his policies were airbrushed from the Western press as if they had never existed.
It became taboo to mention the banning of opposition parties or the relentless war in the Donbass, which claimed 14,000 lives between 2014 and 2022. The tragedy in Odessa, where some 40 trade unionists were burned alive, did not fit the heroic narrative and was subsequently filtered out of the coverage.
In Venezuela’s case, the opposite is happening. Media attention is focused almost exclusively on how “evil” Maduro supposedly is.
Every report on the US invasion is accompanied by a litany of his alleged failures. The narrative relies entirely on interpretations and exaggerations regarding the lack of democracy under his rule.
The White House attempts to justify the abduction by linking Maduro to drug cartels. However, this argument holds no water: the primary cocaine routes run through Colombia and Ecuador. Yet the media frequently “forgets“ to mention this, thereby legitimising military aggression in the eyes of the public.
…
Through this euphemistic framing and the constant demonisation of Maduro, a brutal military aggression is being de facto legitimised.
Following the double standards applied to Ukraine and Gaza, the West is losing its last shred of credibility with the global South. The “rules-based order” is being definitively unmasked as a selective instrument of power.
But there is more at stake. With this attack, Trump is testing the limits of his imperial ambitions. Because of Europe’s appallingly weak stance, Washington has received the signal that it can act with total impunity.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A composite image, assembled from left to right with photos depicting events from the Western world’s agenda in 2025 alongside the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza, reflects two contrasting faces of the world in Ankara, Turkiye on December 29, 2025. [Stringer, Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]
President Donald Trump is once again surrounded by a cast of political lightweights and constitutionally hollow obedient courtiers on one end, and Israel-first operatives on the other. They run US foreign policy where constitutional restraints are subverted, and American power is used as a blunt instrument to advance agendas that are neither democratic nor American. This is not chaos or mismanagement, its planned.
What is being presented as “drug enforcement” against Venezuela’s president is a premeditated act of war orchestrated, in part, to advance Israeli strategic interests and the profits of multinational oil corporations. It is a manipulation of US power in service of foreign actors, with consequences that threaten global stability and undermines international law.
The most disastrous US foreign policy failures of the past quarter century in Iraq, Libya, and Syria were not driven by American interests. They were Israeli wars, sold to American officials through pressure, cooked intelligence, and a compliant political class.
Iraq war was designed in the dens of the pentagon by Israel-first neocons who fabricated the weapons of mass deception to drag America into a made-for-Israel war. Libya was obliterated under the pretext of humanitarian intervention. Syria was turned into a prolonged proxy battlefield. The promised prosperity, stability, democracy, or security never materialized. One thing materialized: delivering Israel’s objectives with American money and the lives of American soldiers.
Today’s war threats against Iran are following the same script. A war manufactured carefully and cynically by Israel-first American Jewish billionaires such as Miriam Adelson, and journalist advocates bought and employed by Larry Allison. These actors have exerted extraordinary influence over Trump, and even audaciously calling for violating the U.S. Constitution by floating a third term run, all to serve of Israeli strategic interests.
Trump branded Maduro a “drug trafficker” to justify his kidnapping, while pardoning Juan Orlando Hernández, a former Honduran president and a US-indicted cocaine kingpin who ran a narco-state shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.
Could it be because Hernández was pro-Israel, but Maduro was not? Maduro dared to condemn Israeli genocide in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank.
This has nothing to do with American interest. It is another Israeli account to settle with the president of Venezuela. These wishes were expressed by Benjamin Netanyahu—an internationally indicted war criminal welcomed in the White House—during his interview with Fox News just three days before the illegal American operation in Venezuela. Not surprising, Israel was possibly the only country who praised Trump for kidnapping Maduro.
If Trump can be the bully of the “neighborhood” and topple or coerce regimes that do not comply with his political and financial desires. Why not for Russia or China in their alleys? What stops China from “trumping up” charges in its courts against Taiwanese political leaders? What stops Russia from kidnapping political figures it deems hostile under the guise of law enforcement?
In fact, China has a far stronger historical, geographic, and political claim to Taiwan than the United States has to Venezuela more than 2,500 miles from American shores. Russia, likewise, has greater strategic ties to countries on its backyard than Washington does in Latin America.
Enforcing international law by local courts only leads to the collapse of international norms. Countries should not be able to use its legal system to supersede international law and UN Charter. The International Criminal Court (ICC), is the only body that can indict and issue arrest warrants. Claiming a law enforcement operation does not make it lawful, especially when the White House welcomes a war criminal and refuses to enforce the ICC arrest warrant.
Unfortunately, the attempt to topple Maduro is not a one off in Latin America. Washington has a bloody history of intervening and regime change, propping dictators, and removing democratically elected leaders. Unlike this case, most were done under the CIA clandestine operations. To name just few, and not in any order: The 1964 Brazilian coup d’état, the 1971 coup in Bolivia, Chile military coup in 1973. The CIA coups in Ecuador between 1960 and 1963, the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état, 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, and the 1983 invasion of Grenada.
Israel’s influence over US foreign policy has become so pervasive that America is perceived as a rattle saber wielded to settle Israeli scores with other countries, sanctioning the ICC, and even suppressing local dissent against Israel. By conflating American national interests with Israel’s strategic objectives, Washington is inviting international chaos, and serving Israel by diverting global attention from Israeli war crimes in Palestine.
And the American taxpayer is paying for all of it. Since 2001, the US has spent more than eight trillion on made-for-Israel wars. This is enough to give 32 million American families free homes ($250,000 each).
Not passing a judgment on the legitimacy of Maduro or his style of governance, that is for the Venezuelan people alone to decide. But an administration that openly expresses admirations to “friendly” dictators, where free press and elections do not exist, has neither the credibility nor the moral standing to decide on legitimate systems of government.
Kidnapping Maduro from his bedroom is not about democracy. It is an exercise of power on behalf of oil profiteers and Israeli strategic interests. The United States does not advance freedom in Latin America by violating international law, nor does it serve Americans when the US army is outsourced to serve the desires of the Israeli lobby, Zionist implants in the administration, and Israel-first donors.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.