After weeks of vicious rhetoric aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, after cheering on some of the most aggressive interior immigration enforcement the country has seen in decades, Donald Trump suddenly wants everyone to know he had a “very good call” with the Democratic governor on Monday and that they are on a “similar wavelength.” He even emphasized how “respectful” Walz was, a word Trump rarely uses for Democrats unless there’s a reason.

And there is a reason.

In the wake of a Border Patrol agent’s Saturday murder of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, the politics around the president’s chaotic and cruel immigration agenda have gone south fast—and Trump knows it.

Minnesota has become the clearest example yet of what happens when maximalist immigration rhetoric collides with reality. Two U.S. citizens are dead following encounters with federal immigration agents in the North Star State, and the administration didn’t just spin what happened—it went full George Orwell and told us not to believe our own eyes.

This isn’t political disagreement or ambiguity: This is Trump’s gestapo goons killing Americans and then trying to launder those murders through a propaganda-filled narrative—one that flies in the face of what heroic Minneapolis citizens captured on video at the literal risk of their lives.

Trump, of course, helped create this moment. Over the past several weeks he has personally targeted Walz, calling him “crooked,” accusing him of election interference, fraud, coddling criminals, and standing in the way of federal enforcement. Minnesota was held up as a symbol of Democratic lawlessness, proof that only Trump and the use of brute federal force could restore order.

Republican acolytes went even further, rushing to defend Pretti’s execution before basic facts were known and insisting that any questioning of Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics amounted to domestic terrorism—a line that out-of-control and cowardly masked ICE agents themselves have embraced:

Polling on ICE has deteriorated sharply as horrific footage and first-hand accounts circulate. Support for aggressive interior immigration enforcement drops once it is no longer abstract—once it involves names, faces, and video. Trump’s political instincts may be erratic, but they are not nonexistent. He can read a trend line. He can feel a backlash bubbling.

Two weeks ago, support for abolishing ICE was already climbing, with a record share of Americans backing the idea of getting rid of Trump’s private militia. Now the latest YouGov data shows that support has reached 46 percent, outpacing opposition at 41 percent.

As you’d expect, Republicans remain far less inclined to back abolition than Democrats or independents, but the shift within the GOP is notable: Two weeks ago, opposition among Republicans sat at 79 percent, with only 14 percent in favor. In the most recent poll, those numbers are now 73–19—a significant 11-point shift in a short amount of time.

Furthermore, there were new cracks in Trump’s own party, as not everyone was happy to defend the indefensible. It was easy to cynically roll one’s eyes at the handful of Republicans breaking ranks, convinced they’d be brought back in line with the mere threat of a nasty tweet.

And for Trump and his party, cruelty has always been acceptable. It was acceptable to abuse and deport Black and brown people. It was acceptable to kidnap brown children. It was acceptable to lock up Native Americans. It was even acceptable to murder a gay woman.

But this time they crossed a line they couldn’t spin away. They killed a man.

Not just a man, but a white man. Not just a white man, but one who worked as an ICU nurse, caring for veterans. Not just a VA worker, but a gun owner.

Alex Pretti didn’t fit the caricature. He looked like one of them. And that made demonization harder for Trump and his minions, and the backlash unavoidable.

Hence, the off-ramp.

Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I! We have had such tremendous SUCCESS in Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and virtually every other place that we have “touched” and, even in Minnesota, Crime is way down, but both Governor Walz and I want to make it better! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Trump’s Truth Social post reads less like a victory lap than a damage-control memo. He suddenly wants coordination. He suddenly wants to suggest that Minnesota officials are partners, not enemies.

Sending Trump border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota is framed not as a crackdown, but as cooperation. Trump even suggests he and Walz share the same goal. Walz is no longer crooked. They both want to “make it better.”

This is not strength. It is retreat.

Nothing substantive has changed on the ground. What has changed is the politics. The White House understands that “law and order” stops working when voters see chaos, destruction, and murder caused by the federal government itself.

There is nothing comforting about masked agents in civilian clothes, without badges or body cams, demanding to see people’s papers. It’s a dystopian nightmare, and people aren’t having it.

Walz has played it cool, even activating the Minnesota National Guard—clearly marked in orange vests—to stand guard and hand out refreshments to protesters.

That is what actually providing safety and security to a community looks like—and it only happened because the Supreme Court stripped Trump of the power to turn the National Guard into his personal riot squad. The contrast couldn’t be clearer: a Democratic governor using the Guard to deescalate and protect, versus Trump’s earlier attempts to use it to intimidate and provoke. Trump has to see the optics are brutal for him.

As a result, Trump, who thrives on dominance displays, is now publicly flattering a Democratic governor he was attacking days earlier. That tells you everything you need to know.

He, his party, and his goons have gone too far. He’s now looking for a way out.

Markos Moulitsas is founder and editor of the blogging website Daily Kos and author of three books.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos