'Trump has been caught off guard' as Dems blindside him with new 'leverage': analyst

President Donald Trump has suddenly realized that Democrats are backing him into a corner over the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota, Greg Sargent wrote for The New Republic — and while he really doesn't want to back down, he realizes he needs to defuse their anger.

"The media verdict is in: President Trump has 'softened' his stance on his paramilitary war on Minneapolis," wrote Sargent. "He struck a 'cooperative tone' in a call with Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz. The administration hopes to 'shift its strategy' on its ICE raids. Trump is executing a 'pivot' and is attempting to 'deescalate.'"

In truth, Sargent wrote, he is doing no such thing. He is scapegoating Border Patrol enforcer Greg Bovino for the shooting deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, and reassigning him to California — but no one else, from the federal agents involved in the shootings to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, face any consequences or even serious investigation, and there is no sign there will be a meaningful shift in tactics.

However, he said, what is true is that Trump suddenly realizes Democrats are angry and unified enough to shut down the government again, demanding changes to the DHS funding bill that rein in the powers being thrown around in Minneapolis — and he is desperate to calm them down so everything can stay as it is.

"Trump has visibly been caught off guard by what he’s unleashed," wrote Sargent. "He senses that Democrats now have unexpected leverage over him — hence his effort to placate them before they restrict DHS. He sees that the public has turned sharply against him over the occupations and the smearing of the victims — so he instructed press secretary Karoline Leavitt to distance him from Stephen Miller’s description of Pretti as a 'domestic terrorist,' and he now has his aides leaking word of his 'pivot' and 'de-escalation.'"

Regardless, Sargent concluded, the bottom line is that "all this has seriously gotten away from Trump, taking on popular momentum that can no longer be channeled and controlled. And let’s be clear: Trump, the self-imagined master manipulator of popular passions, plainly knows this at least as well as anyone else does."