That Cracking Sound!

Have you ever been on a frozen lake? You can hear the cracks spread. It’s an eerie sound.

Well, you can hear the cracks forming in the Trump administration. I wrote yesterday about Trump making a strategic error, and the fallout is continuing.

Minnesota killing produces backlash against Trump administration from Second Amendment advocates

AP News

By  BILL BARROW and NICHOLAS RICCARDI

January 27, 2026

Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration’s characterization of Alex Pretti, the second person killed this month by a federal officer in Minneapolis, as responsible for his own death because he lawfully possessed a weapon.

The death produced no clear shifts in U.S. gun politics or policies, even as President Donald Trump shuffles the lieutenants in charge of his militarized immigration crackdown. But important voices in Trump’s coalition have called for a thorough investigation of Pretti’s death while also criticizing inconsistencies in some Republicans’ Second Amendment stances.

If the dynamic persists, it could give Republicans problems as Trump heads into a midterm election year with voters already growing skeptical of his overall immigration approach. The concern is acute enough that Trump’s top spokeswoman sought Monday to reassert his brand as a staunch gun rights supporter.

That was a huge tactical mistake, and changing the head guy will not appease the gun crowd. I don’t know about you, but I heard a collective gasp when I heard Trump & Company say you shouldn’t bring a gun to a protest!

Gun rights groups blast Trump over Minnesota response

Gun ownership advocates are pushing back against the Trump administration over its response to the killing of Alex Pretti on Saturday.

Politico

By Andrew Howard

01/27/2026

The killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota has led to a rare rebuke of top Trump administration officials by leading 2nd Amendment advocates.

Multiple national gun-rights organizations, as well as a prominent Minnesota gun rights group, have expressed horror at top Trump administration officials’ criticism of Pretti for being armed with a handgun that he had a legal permit to carry.

“The FBI director needs to brush off that thing called the Constitution, because he clearly hasn’t read it,” National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown told POLITICO. “I know of no more crucial place to carry a firearm for self defense than a protest.”

As Jim Croce sang there are certain thing you do not do!

You don't tug on Superman's cape

You don't spit into the wind

You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger

And you don't mess around with the 2^nd Amendment!

Do you remember when Republicans used to threaten their base with “The Democrats want to take away your Second Amendment rights!!!”? Well, it is the Republicans who did it.

Gun-rights groups rushed to push back on an administration that was breaking with conservative orthodoxy on the right to bear arms in public places.

Several were particularly outraged by Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who posted on X: “If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you.”

The National Rifle Association, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, posted that Essayli’s remarks were “dangerous and wrong,” and called for a full investigation rather than “making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

Well the Republicans tug on Superman's cape!

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The fallout...

Republicans divided on ICE tactics as shutdown looms

The Hill

by Alexander Bolton

01/26/26 

Senate Republicans are divided over Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) tactics, which now threaten to trigger a partial government shutdown after the second fatal shooting in Minneapolis of a protester.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) called the shooting and other events in Minneapolis “incredibly disturbing” and demanded a “full joint federal and state investigation” of the incident, something senior Trump administration officials have so far resisted.

“The events in Minneapolis are incredibly disturbing. The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake. There must be a full joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people with the truth,” he wrote Saturday in a social media post.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Sunday the shooting raises “serious questions within the administration about the adequacy of immigration-enforcement training and the instructions officers are given on carrying out their mission.”

Can you imagine being a Republican congressperson right now? On one hand, you’re quaking in your boots, fearing Trump, and now you have all these gun nuts screaming, “They’re taking away my guns!”

 The New York Times wrote;

“You’re not addressing the problem by throwing a 500-pound gorilla into these inner cities,” said Mr. Hagelsieb, 52, who said he voted three times for President Trump and retired from the Department of Homeland Security in 2023. “It’s completely unfair to the agents who have been put in this position.”

“They’re causing chaos, and unfortunately it’s costing lives,” he added. “There’s only so much they can handle before bad things start to happen.”

And remember this is Trump's base talking! And it is fracturing!

Trump sat on a wall

Trump had a great fall

All the Trump's horses and all the Trump's men 

Couldn't put Trump together again!

The AP News article ends with;

William Sack, legal director of the Second Amendment Foundation, said he was surprised and disappointed by the administration’s initial statements following the Pretti shooting. Trump’s vacillating, he said, is “very likely to cost them dearly with the core of a constituency they count on.”