{"id":2554503,"date":"2026-01-27T18:25:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-split-over-trumps-de-escalation-efforts-in-minnesota\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:27:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:27:18","slug":"gop-split-over-trumps-de-escalation-efforts-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-split-over-trumps-de-escalation-efforts-in-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP split over Trump\u2019s de-escalation efforts in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgop-split-over-trumps-de-escalation-efforts-in-minnesota%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2554503&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>republican reaction is split over president Donald Trump\u2019s move to tamp down tensions in Minnesota after the fatal shooting of 37\u2011year\u2011old Alex Pretti during protests involving ICE and Border Patrol. Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, demoted Gregory Bovino from his ICE\u2011embed oversight role, and held calls with Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey while saying Pretti did not appear to be \u201cacting like an assassin\u201d but that guns shouldn\u2019t be brought to protests. <\/p>\n<p>Some Republicans praised the steps as necessary de\u2011escalation and a corrective PR move after video of the shooting contradicted initial official accounts. Hard\u2011line MAGA figures \u2014 including Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer \u2014 criticized the outreach as a retreat, called for tougher measures (even invoking the Insurrection Act or criminal charges for local officials), and urged personnel changes such as elevating Homan. Gun\u2011rights groups were angered by early suggestions that Pretti bore blame despite having a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/half-of-america-moves-to-constitutional-carry\/\" title=\"Half of America ...s to Constitutional Carry\">legal carry permit<\/a>,though White house press comments later sought to calm tensions. The episode highlights a rift within the GOP between advisers focused on optics and public safety and more militant supporters demanding a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackburn-calls-biden-ftc-nominee-not-aggressive-enough-on-big-tech\/\" title=\"Blackburn Calls Biden FTC Nominee \u2018Not Aggressive Enough\u2019 on Big Tech\">harder line<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">GOP split over whether Trump&rsquo;s de-escalation efforts in Minnesota is a &lsquo;retreat&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2485657\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/GOP\">GOP<\/a> has taken a mixed response to President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/Donald%20Trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>&lsquo;s efforts to tamp down violent interactions between <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/minnesota\/\">Minnesota <\/a>protesters and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4434830\/trump-shifts-tactics-optics-calm-immigration-firestorm\/\">Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> officers.<\/p>\n<p>Many Republicans championed Trump sending border czar <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/Tom%20Homan\">Tom Homan<\/a> to Minnesota in the aftermath of a second protester&rsquo;s death over the weekend. But other MAGA supporters have slammed Trump&rsquo;s behavior as a retreat, akin to handing anti-ICE protesters victory.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4436006\/trump-does-not-like-alex-pretti-carrying-gun-two-fully-loaded-magazines\/\">Trump says he doesn&#8217;t &#8216;like&#8217; that Alex Pretti was carrying a gun and &#8216;two fully loaded magazines&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/immigration\/4435779\/nevada-republican-minnesota-ice-shootings\/\">Top Republican on ICE funding committee questions Noem over Minnesota killings: &#8216;Not in a good place&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4435626\/america-250-state-celebrations-virginia-pennsylvania-new-york\/\">Which states are having the biggest America 250 celebrations?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Trump&rsquo;s efforts to reset the narrative include demoting <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/immigration\/4434302\/greg-bovino-relieved-minnesota-border-patrol-ice\/\">Gregory Bovino<\/a> from the&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/border-patrol\">Border Patrol&rsquo;s<\/a>&nbsp;commander of at-large operations overseeing ICE embeds. Bovino will return to his job overseeing Border Patrol operations in El Centro, California.<\/p>\n<p>Before jetting off to Iowa on Tuesday, Trump <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4435532\/trump-alex-pretti-not-acting-assassin\/\">also told reporters<\/a> that he did not think Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse fatally shot by Border Patrol agents, was acting like an assassin, despite previous comments from Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller accompanied Trump to Iowa, but Noem did not.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No. No, I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; Trump said when asked. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;With that being said, you can&rsquo;t have guns,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t walk in with guns. But it&rsquo;s a very unfortunate incident.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">President Donald Trump has distanced himself from comments made by Stephen Miller over the weekend regarding the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yet some of his most diehard supporters were left unsatisfied with Trump&rsquo;s recent phone calls with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a retreat, and it ain&rsquo;t a strategic retreat,&rdquo; Steve Bannon said during a Tuesday broadcast of his show <em>WarRoom<\/em>. &ldquo;Why is that? Because the people around the president. You see who set up the phone calls. Frey and Walz are spiking the football.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re at war,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re at war, then you&rsquo;re going to play conventional politics. Oh, you know, that poll of independents, you know, we&rsquo;re slipping in that poll of independents. If you play by conventional methods, you&rsquo;re going to lose, because they&rsquo;re not playing by conventional methods.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Former Trump campaign surrogates pushed back against allegations that Trump was retreating in an interview with the <em>Washington Examiner.<\/em> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is not a retreat,&rdquo; said Autry Pruitt, who served as a Trump surrogate in 2016. &ldquo;President Trump, through the polling that I&rsquo;ve seen so far, is experiencing a public relations problem, if you will. Americans do not want to see citizens gunned down.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Video of Pretti&rsquo;s death <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/01\/25\/politics\/trump-officials-shifting-rhetoric-alex-pretti\">contradicted reports<\/a> by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Miller that he attacked officers or that he was brandishing his gun.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The video speaks loud, so he&rsquo;s got to do something to take down this temperature from a PR perspective, and he&rsquo;s got to do something so that we don&rsquo;t have other American citizens shot unless they were actively shooting at a federal officer,&rdquo; Pruitt said.<\/p>\n<p>Others, such as Trump whisperer Laura Loomer, told viewers of her show<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">,<em>&nbsp;Loomer Unleashed,<\/em>&nbsp;that she supported<\/span> Homan replacing Noem if the president decides to shake up the Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think Tom Homan should be the secretary of DHS,&rdquo; Loomer said Monday night. &ldquo;I mean, if you&rsquo;re going to have Tom Homan go to Minnesota, why not just put Tom Homan in control of DHS altogether? I think that Tom Homan does a fantastic job. He&rsquo;s widely respected, and he would be an amazing DHS secretary. Nothing against Kristi Noem.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We love Tom. I think it&rsquo;s a great move,&rdquo; said Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for Turning Point USA, on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/v74xd5m-the-2nd-amendment-and-ice-the-history-of-antifa-rep.-roy-rantz-marlow-1.27..html?e9s=src_v1_ucp_l\"><em>The Charlie Kirk Show<\/em><\/a>. Kolvet also pushed back against comments online, chastising the president.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think the internet&rsquo;s got this all wrong,&rdquo; Kolvet said. &ldquo;A lot of people are saying President Trump blinked. You know, he had this call with Frey, he had a call with Walz. What they&rsquo;re doing is a huge, huge deal. We are now seeing Minneapolis PD rush in to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >defend federal law enforcement<\/a>, that&rsquo;s a big change, that&rsquo;s a positive change after the calls with the president. So we&rsquo;re seeing movement here, we&rsquo;re seeing a little give and take, I do not see anybody saying we&rsquo;re not going to arrest all the illegals, nobody&rsquo;s saying that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There is no negotiating with the radical left. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tim_Walz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Tim_Walz<\/a> &amp; <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jacob_Frey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Jacob_Frey<\/a> should be criminally charged, not given a chance to do this again.<\/p>\n<p>The GOP needs to start using the power that they have. We are running out of time. <\/p>\n<p>Insurrection Act would have been a great place to start.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LauraLoomer\/status\/2015964283616551025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>But Loomer also called for Walz and Frey to be &ldquo;criminally charged&rdquo; in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-this-average-american-is-voting-for-donald-trump\/\" title=\"Why This Average American Is Voting for Donald ...\">social media post<\/a>. She also called for the Insurrection Act to be invoked, as did Bannon during his show. <\/p>\n<p>Gun rights groups were among those outraged over comments from FBI Director Kash Patel and others blaming Pretti for bringing a handgun to protests, despite having a legal permit to carry, although some were assuaged by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt&rsquo;s Monday briefing. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The first few reactions from senior officials, not just Kash Patel and Kristi Noem, but even the secretary of the Treasury, sounded like they were straight out of the Obama administration, not the Trump administration,&rdquo; said Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights. &ldquo;I believe the White House press secretary&rsquo;s comments were a de-escalation on the constitutional issues involved, and I&rsquo;m not taking any issue with that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Brown said he had expressed his displeasure with the comments threatening the Second Amendment to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-mike-rogers-opens-inquiry-into-lloyd-austins-failure-to-disclose-hospitalization\/\" title=\"Rep. Mike Rogers investigates Lloyd Austin...s failure to disclose hospitalization\">high-level administration officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They know exactly where we are on this anyway, but I wanted to make sure to make comments to those friends,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I told them, &lsquo;You don&rsquo;t need to respond.&rsquo; And they&rsquo;re monitoring all the media that we&rsquo;re doing. So I&rsquo;m pretty sure that&rsquo;s been a topic of conversation in the White House.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights. (Photo handout)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Trump notably did not respond on Tuesday when reporters pressed him about the Second Amendment. <\/p>\n<p>The president does, however, continue to stand by Noem. &ldquo;I think she&rsquo;s doing a very good job,&rdquo; he said Tuesday. He also defended shaking up the leaders stationed in Minnesota. &ldquo;I do that all the time,&rdquo; Trump said. &ldquo;I shake up teams.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4435532\/trump-alex-pretti-not-acting-assassin\/\">TRUMP SAYS ALEX PRETTI WASN&rsquo;T ACTING AS AN ASSASSIN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But Democrats are calling for Noem&rsquo;s ouster, and some Republicans such as Pruitt say Homan&rsquo;s past experience may be better suited for Trump to put in an interim appointment as an acting deputy secretary of homeland security.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s another thing he could do to keep Neom in her place, let her take a back seat, and keep Homan forward,&rdquo; Pruitt said. &ldquo;I do think his fear might be that Homan doesn&rsquo;t play as well as Noem can on television. But right now, dead bodies don&rsquo;t play well at all.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GOP divided on Trump&#8217;s Minnesota de-escalation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2658,"featured_media":2554504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26027643984595.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[21615,72054,5698,32085,3634],"class_list":["post-2554503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-de-escalation","tag-intra-party-split","tag-minnesota","tag-republican-party","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP26027643984595.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2554503"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2554507,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2554503\/revisions\/2554507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2554504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2554503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2554503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2554503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}