THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

Malpractice is negligence: when a professional fails to meet the accepted standard of care and that failure causes harm.
Malfeasance is intentional wrongdoing, especially by someone in public office or a position of trust.

Malpractice is typically a civil offense, remedied through monetary penalties. Malfeasance, by contrast, can be criminal, particularly when it results in serious injury or death.

As we examine the videos involving Renee Good and Alex Pretti, there is little doubt that the officers involved are guilty of at least malpractice. The leadership above them, however, is deeply guilty of malfeasance.

Federal officers deployed to Minnesota and now Maine are not adequately trained in crowd control or community policing. They are placed in untenable positions, and their actions, overly aggressive, undisciplined, and poorly executed, predictably provoked community resistance. That resistance had nothing to do with failures of local leadership. In fact, Minnesota communities were remarkably peaceful throughout 2025 under local control, until the sudden invasion of thousands of federal officers brandishing pepper spray, tear gas, and firearms aimed at, and in some cases fired upon, lawful protesters.

Anyone familiar with the state understands what “Minnesota nice” means: a culture rooted in community, mutual respect, and concern for one’s neighbors. What the federal force failed to comprehend is that this same community reacts with moral outrage when civil rights are disrespected and human dignity is disregarded. Professional police leaders across the country have openly criticized the federal response, noting that these tactics provoke violence rather than contain it. The Minneapolis Police Chief himself warned that such an approach would result in injury and loss of life.

ICE has previously operated in Minneapolis and other cities successfully, when it performed its duties professionally and within the bounds of respectful, lawful policing. During President Obama’s two terms, nearly three million people were deported without violence. He was criticized by some and even labeled the “deporter-in-chief.” So, the question must be asked: since January 20, 2026, what changed? Why the violence? Why the deaths?

The answer is management.

After Trump assumed the presidency, immigration enforcement ceased to be governed by the rule of law and instead became a tool of political retribution and performative “red-meat” public relations designed to motivate the political base rather than enforce the law in the national interest. When government operates outside legal and moral boundaries, disregarding constitutional rights and the social and economic fabric of communities, relying on coercive force, resistance is inevitable.

Minneapolis has provided an example to the nation. The protests there have been overwhelmingly peaceful. The violence has been initiated by federal agents. Those agents may have been frustrated or angered by citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, but Americans who fund this “protection” expect conduct consistent with democratic policing, not behavior reminiscent of an occupying force from 1776.

It now appears that, under mounting public outrage and political pressure, federal authorities may alter their tactics. A response rooted in morality and human decency would have been preferable, but even a tactical retreat motivated by political self-preservation is welcome if it prevents further loss of life.

Still, we cannot in good conscience forget the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

The buck stops at the top. Yet in Trump’s world, responsibility is always deflected onto whoever is deemed expendable. Public policy and good governance are never the goal. What we have witnessed from January 6th, to the Greenland farce, to “Liberation Day,” to the unhinged Davos speech, to the murders in Minnesota, is the same destructive pattern: create the crisis, evade responsibility, manufacture grievance, and weaponize power.

It is the logic of the child who murders his parents and then pleads for sympathy because he is an orphan.

This is malfeasance plain and simple by leadership in the White House and in Congress. And while Republican leadership remains silent, enough rank-and-file Republicans are beginning to break ranks as electoral consequences loom. In Minnesota, the Republican candidate for governor has already withdrawn, explicitly citing the failure of national party leadership and the disastrous, dystopian debacle imposed on his state.

History is watching. So are the voters.

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!