Two former Democratic presidents aren’t mincing words: what’s happening in Minneapolis is a crisis of American values, and it’s time for people to do something about it.
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton both issued statements Sunday condemning the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents this weekend—and calling on Americans to “speak up” and take action in response to what they describe as escalating authoritarian tactics by the Trump administration.
WHAT’S GOING ON: The Obamas called Pretti’s death a “heartbreaking tragedy” and a “wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.”
They didn’t hold back on the Department of Homeland Security’s conduct, slamming the “unprecedented tactics” of “masked ICE recruits and other federal agents acting with impunity and engaging in tactics that seem designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger the residents of a major American city.”
Pretti’s killing follows the death of Renee Good, who was shot in the head by an ICE officer earlier this month in a Minneapolis residential area.
The Obamas pointed out that the administration’s public explanations for both shootings “aren’t informed by any serious investigation—and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence.” In other words: they’re lying, and there’s tape.
OF COURSE: The White House response was exactly what you’d expect. Spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Obama of exploiting the moment to “sow more division” and demanded he join Trump in pressuring Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
“Instead, they are attacking law enforcement and defending criminal illegal aliens with additional convictions for murder, rape, assault, and more,” Jackson said—the standard playbook of demonizing immigrants to justify any level of violence against them.
BUT BUT BUT: Bill Clinton went further, calling the scenes in Minneapolis “horrible” and framing this as a defining historical moment. “Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them,” he wrote on social media.
Clinton directly accused “the people in charge” of lying and telling the public “not to believe what we’ve seen with our own eyes.” He called on Americans who believe in democracy to “stand up, speak out, and show that our nation still belongs to We the People.”
WHY IT MATTERS: When two former presidents issue coordinated statements calling federal law enforcement tactics authoritarian and demanding public action, that’s not normal political posturing.
The Obamas specifically urged people to “draw inspiration from the wave of peaceful protests in Minneapolis and other parts of the country”—an explicit endorsement of street-level resistance.
They also called on the administration to work with Walz and Frey “to avert more chaos and achieve legitimate law enforcement goals”—a diplomatic way of saying the current approach is neither legitimate nor effective, just violent.