Character assassination after a killing: how Minneapolis shows Trump's contempt for us all

Renee Nicole Good is dead. She was murdered in cold blood in Minneapolis by a masked federal agent who had to know his safety was never in question.

The agent ordered Good out of her SUV. She turned the wheels away from him to go home. He was apparently offended that she didn’t immediately follow orders, so he shot her three times in the face, twice as her vehicle veered away.

That’s my take from watching several versions of the horrible incident, recorded from a variety of angles. If your eyes don’t have cataracts, it’s pretty clear Good was neither trying to ram the agent (since identified as Jonathan Ross) nor interact with him in any way. She was frightened and just wanted to get out of Dodge.

Ross stood to the side of her car, out of its path, and was barely brushed as Good attempted to flee. Yet he felt that was sufficient justification to end the life of a 37-year-old mother of three, the widow of a military veteran.

The video has been dissected like the Zapruder film. All that’s missing is a book depository and a grassy knoll.

But those trumpeting the glory of ICE and MAGA didn’t require anything close to evidence. They made their calculation as a snap judgment. Our “president” saw fit to weigh in on Truth Social some two hours after Good perished on Wednesday, claiming she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” Ross.

“Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but he is now recovering in the hospital,” Trump wrote.

Based on the attached clip — shot seemingly from at least 50 yards away in super-slo-mo, largely blocked by trees — it was hard to believe anyone could tell a thing. Ross didn’t receive so much as a scratch and any “hospital stay” likely amounted to minutes. But, you know, facts. Who needs them?

Very shortly thereafter, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem showed up ready for her close-up in shiny lip gloss and an outrageous ten-gallon hat.

Noem declared that Ross acted completely appropriately to protect himself from vehicular assault, while Good’s actions amounted to “an act of domestic terrorism.”

Yes, before her body was cold, Good’s character was assassinated. No “It’s too early to speculate” or “We’re launching an independent investigation.” No caution or restraint. Simply immediate justification, judge and jury, the unmistakable implication being that the deceased was an activist monster who deserved her fate.

It was a blatant, revolting lie.

Make no mistake, this was an execution in broad daylight, entirely avoidable too.

It wasn’t enough that Renee Good was another liberal head in the Republican trophy case. MAGAworld had to smear her too.

Vice President JD Vance branded her a “deranged leftist,” paying for the sins of all the other resistance moms.

The Trump-adoring radio host Erick Erickson labeled her an AWFUL, which stands for “Affluent White Female Urban Liberal.”

This was mere hours after the woman’s tragic death. No longer does being a lowlife attack dog come with a time moratorium.

Things picked up from there, to move at warp speed. The feds stepped up to defend the shooter and frame the narrative. We were told that based on his training, Ross acted appropriately in discharging his weapon at point-blank range on an unarmed, fearful woman who was no threat to him.

As of this writing, Ross has been neither charged nor suspended. He is instead, in all likelihood, being regularly high-fived. The public is assured that all appropriate measures are being taken and to trust things will be handled internally. What could possibly go wrong?

It wasn’t long before the FBI seized control of the “investigation” and told officials in Minnesota their assistance wouldn’t be needed. The probe would now be a solo one, to the frustration and anger of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

This is an administration closing ranks and covering its tracks. Local oversight had to be sent packing, because what if it found that Ross’s actions went beyond a justifiable use of force? That wouldn’t do at all. Therefore, a corrupt group will conduct its own corrupt inquiry, leading to a corrupt partisan judgment, months down the line.

When the federal government kills a civilian and then obstructs the state from reviewing the evidence, it’s not safeguarding the process. It’s covering its ass.

These guys have seen the same videos as the rest of us. They know Ross is guilty of overreacting with rage in the moment and must be charged with voluntary manslaughter at minimum. They’re merely pretending to believe otherwise.

You can always tell when they’re being deceptive, which, let’s face it, is basically 99.9 percent of the time. In defending the indefensible, they grow increasingly loud and forceful.

As usual, they’re taking their cues from the Trump playbook, courtesy of the president’s former lawyer and mentor, Roy Cohn:

1. Never apologize or admit wrongdoing, ever.
2. Always counterattack, and always with greater force than you received.
3. Manipulate the media ruthlessly.
4. Use fear as both shield and sword.

So that’s where we are. The obvious message is that ICE can do whatever it damn well pleases, including blowing away a white Christian mom who loved to sing and write poetry. She committed the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is to say, wherever ICE gathers.

As my eloquent nephew Joey Lange declared on social media this week, “We are now at the edge of an abyss. ICE is no longer playing dress-up diet fascism.”

This time, Good paid with her life. Next time, it could be any one of us.

• Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.