(Washington) Donald Trump announced on Tuesday “a small de-escalation” in Minnesota, after the death in a few weeks of two demonstrators killed by federal agents in the city of Minneapolis, on the sidelines of anti-immigration police operations.
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“We are going to do a little de-escalation,” said the American president in an interview with the Fox News channel, during a trip to Iowa (center), before adding: “It’s not a withdrawal, it’s a small change.”
Donald Trump, losing speed in the polls, is going to Iowa on Tuesday to talk about the economy, but his message is already confused by the political storm surrounding the immigration police (ICE).
Although he refused to repeat the description of “assassin” used by his advisor Stephen Miller regarding the man killed on Saturday in Minneapolis by federal agents, the American president nevertheless ruled that the latter should not have carried a weapon during a demonstration.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, carried a pistol with him on Saturday, which some American officials used to defend the action of federal agents, sparking protests from representatives of the pro-arms lobby.
Donald Trump also said Tuesday that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, whose departure the opposition is calling for, remained in place, judging that she was doing “a very good job”.
PHOTO NATHAN HOWARD, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem
“No,” replied the American president to a journalist who asked him if Kristi Noem was going to leave her post.
The first lady of the United States called for peaceful demonstrations on Tuesday. “We need to come together. I call for unity,” said the former model of Slovenian origin, interviewed on the Fox News channel about the events in Minneapolis.
Speech “on the economy and the cost of living”
The American president “will visit a local business and give a speech on the economy and the cost of living,” his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday during a press conference.
But the subject was raised only briefly and almost all the questions focused on the death in Minneapolis, Minnesota, of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse shot and killed by federal agents during a protest against ICE. His death sparked great outrage.
Iowa (Central), now a conservative stronghold, is famous in the United States for being the state that launches the primaries. During the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump largely won against Democrat Kamala Harris.
But since this victory, the tide has turned.
Corn and biofuel producers in Iowa, two essential economic sectors for this rural state, asked Donald Trump in an open letter to act “immediately” to revive demand, claiming to have reached a “breaking point”.
Across the country, unfavorable polls follow one another for the 79-year-old Republican.
He campaigned on two big promises: to revive purchasing power and to expel illegal immigrants en masse.
On these two aspects, a majority of Americans now say they are dissatisfied with its action – even if, in the case of immigration, it is more the methods than the objective stated by the government which are criticized.
“Shutdown”
Feeling the tide turning against ICE, the White House has been trying since Monday to play appeasement while defending, in substance, its policy of mass expulsions.
Karoline Leavitt described the death of the nurse in Minneapolis as a “tragedy”, a very different tone from the attacks made by the Trump administration against Renee Good, the American shot and killed by an immigration police officer in early January, already in Minneapolis.
The Democrats are now determined to prevent the president from financing his fight against immigration, which poses the risk of a new budgetary paralysis, this after Donald Trump was already confronted in October with the longest budgetary paralysis in the history of the United States.
Republicans therefore see the midterm elections approaching with concern, which could cost the president control of Congress.
What will be crucial during this election, traditionally difficult for the party that controls the White House, “is the motivation” of voters, Lonna Atkeson, political scientist at Florida State University, explains to AFP.
“Republicans will not be very motivated to leave their homes and support Republican candidates (…). But Democrats are motivated to show their anger,” she explains.
