A former adviser to President Donald Trump warned that his overly aggressive pursuit of a key campaign promise was hurting him politically.
CNN's David Urban, who advised Trump on all three of his presidential campaigns, said voters were repulsed by the violent images coming out of Minneapolis, where the administration has surged around 2,000 federal agents as part of a sweeping mass deportation campaign and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer killed 37-year-old Renee Good last week.
"Americans overwhelmingly votedone of the president'sstrongest suits, Americansoverwhelmingly voted for thispresident," Urban said. "If you look at thenumbers and reasons given tosecure the border and crack downon kind of the sieve that wasthe border under the Bidenadministration, and thisadministration effectivelysealed that border up and didthat, and then the presidentpromised to go after the badhombres and the drug dealers andget those people out of America, and, you know, there'sa lot of support for that in America. What there isn'tsupport for, and the pollingbears this out – this isn't David Urban's opinion – this isthe polling that bears out thatpeople do not want to see whatyou're seeing on your screenright now."
Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who had supported Trump in the 2024 election, spoke out against the administration's crackdown in Minneapolis, where federal agents have been pulling people from their vehicles, slamming them onto the ground and violently detaining them in brutal interactions recorded on video.
"They do not want tohear what Joe Rogan is saying," Urban said. "They don't want to see maskedmen geared up like Delta Forcewalking down the streets of America asking people for theirpapers, throwing them on theground, zip-tying people who aredoing sheetrock, you know,gardeners, nannies. They don'twant to see that, right? That'snot what they voted for, and so it is really hurting thispresident in the numbers on anarea where he was strongest onimmigration, strongest – nowit's becoming a weaker point."
Polls show strong majorities do not believe the ICE agent was justified in shooting Good, but the Department of Justice has declared the case closed without further investigation and refuses to share evidence with local authorities, and Urban said the president needs to de-escalate the situation.
"I thinkthis needs to start at the top," Urban said. "I think the president needs tobe aware or made more aware thatmaybe the numbers are going toplay it out, but continue tohave polling that shows that the American people don't likethis. Listen, when you lose Joe Rogan, right, you've got a problem, and I hope the White Housetakes us to heart thatpeople don't want to see thistype of behavior from ICE."