Trump just handed Dems a weapon that will finish him

After what happened in Minneapolis last weekend, the American people are angry, afraid, and feel powerless to stop a president and a Department of Homeland Security drunk on power and violence. They are crying out for someone — anyone — to show a way forward, to counter this administration and defend a fragile democracy.

This is the moment Democrats must step forward together.

Poll after poll shows Donald Trump and congressional Republicans in deep trouble. Voters are furious about affordability, exhausted by chaos, alarmed by the open lawlessness defining this administration.

Democrats have rightly centered accountability, calling out a GOP Congress that sits idle while Trump tramples the Constitution, the rule of law, and basic human decency.

The second fatal shooting of an innocent, law-abiding American by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis sickened anyone with a functioning conscience. This was not an accident. It was the predictable result of an unrestrained DHS operating a paramilitary force, emboldened by Trump and protected by Republican silence.

Republicans, according to reporting, are afraid to confront Trump over ICE’s brutality. In the absence of Republican courage, Democrats must act.

They have real leverage.

Last week, the House passed a funding package that included more than $64 billion for DHS, which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection. It passed despite Democratic demands for guardrails to rein in ICE’s violent, lawless behavior and the rogue leadership of DHS Secretary Kristin Noem.

That DHS funding was bundled with several other appropriations bills needed to keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year.

In normal times, such a package would sail through Congress. These are not normal times. Any faith that business could proceed as usual has been shattered by the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both shot in broad daylight by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.

The bill now sits in the Senate, where Democrats have the power to stop it.

Senate Democrats vowed not to provide the votes needed to advance DHS funding unless the department is fundamentally reined in. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called what happened in Minnesota “appalling and unacceptable,” and called the bill “woefully inadequate” to curb ICE abuses.

That stance upends what House negotiators — read Republicans — thought was a near-done deal. Because DHS funding is tied to five other spending bills, removing it would require renegotiation and new House approval, unlikely before funding expires at the end of the week.

The result is a very real threat of a partial government shutdown if Democrats hold firm and Republicans refuse to separate DHS from the broader package.

This is why the stakes are so high, and why Democrats must stay united until they get real action on behalf of the American people.

They have been here before. Last year, Democrats forced a shutdown over expiring Obamacare tax credits. They showed unity, then accepted a familiar Republican “promise” that the issue would be taken up later.

It wasn’t, of course. Why would anyone in their right mind take Republicans in Congress at their word? The credits expired. Premiums spiked. Millions lost coverage. Democrats sent a message, but messages don’t pay bills. Outcomes do, and the outcome was failure because Democrats caved.

Now the test is far more dire.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries condemned the killing of Pretti, calling Trump and DHS “completely and totally out of control.” He labeled the killing of a VA nurse a “horrific, preventable tragedy” and demanded an independent investigation free from DHS interference.

But words are not enough. If the Senate blocks DHS funding and the bill returns to the House, Jeffries must keep his caucus united to stop it.

This is not the moment for half-measures or false promises of reform later. Or to trust Republicans to do the right thing. Senate Democrats must refuse to fund DHS — fully, publicly, to the end.

Not for symbolism. Not for a press release. Not in exchange for another empty Republican assurance.

This is a defining test for Schumer. The New York senator built his career battling in the trenches. Yet that fighter feels absent now, replaced by a leader strong on floor speeches but weak against Trump’s, and the GOP’s, relentless bad faith.

Schumer has a chance to remind the country who he once was. He can hold his caucus together, vote down DHS funding, and force a reckoning over the brutality and illegality that has now claimed American lives.

Public opinion is already there. Democrats, independents, and even some Republicans are horrified by what is happening in Minneapolis. There are not two legitimate sides to this story. Americans can see the truth for themselves. There is only one.

Trump’s response has been escalation. He sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis, a move roughly equivalent to sending a Tsavo lion into a chicken coop. Homan, like his boss, offers intimidation instead of accountability.

Democrats must be visible. They must go to Minnesota, stand where Americans were killed, and make clear they are willing to confront this administration head-on. They must stay united and refuse to be conned yet again by Republicans.

This is not politics as usual. It is about protecting American lives.

The country is watching. If Democrats fail, this will not stop in Minnesota. These tactics will spread to blue cities and blue states, putting more American lives at risk.

This really is a matter of life and death.

Democrats must either prove they are willing to fight, or once again signal that they will blink. If they break now, the consequences will be measured in blood, making polls and headlines meaningless.

• John Casey was most recently Senior Editor, The Advocate, and is a freelance opinion and feature story writer. Previously, he was a Capitol Hill press secretary, and spent 25 years in media and public relations in NYC. He is the co-author of LOVE: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality (Rizzoli, 2025), named by Oprah in her "Best 25 of 2025.”