But it’s just the latest in a string of moments where Trump has first taken a maximalist position only to appear to later retreat.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Trump repeatedly threatened Iran with military action if his administration found the Islamic Republic was using deadly force to squelch recent anti-government protests. Human rights groups said thousands were killed, but Trump says he\u2019s holding off on acting after he received assurances Tehran was suspending hundreds of planned executions.<\/p>\n
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President Donald Trump speaks before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, January 20, 2026, in Washington. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Last week, Trump first announced plans to impose new tariffs on European allies that refused to go along with his calls for the US to take control of the Arctic territory of Greenland \u2014 only to abruptly cancel the tariffs after saying he\u2019d come to terms with the \u201cframework\u201d of an agreement. The White House offered scant details about the deal, which Trump announced the day after the stock market saw one of its worst days in months in response to his tariff threat.<\/p>\n
Then on Monday (local time), Trump’s administration changed up oversight of his immigration operation in Minnesota, and the typically bombastic Trump offered a warmer tone toward Governor Tim Walz after speaking with the Democrat, saying he and Walz were now on a \u201csimilar wavelength\u201d.<\/p>\n
Some Republicans took issue with what happened in Minneapolis<\/p>\n
![\"Demonstrator](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/demonstrator-holds-signs-during-a-protest-outside-the-office-QQFXB2Z3OVAU3O7X5BXOACMHPI.jpg\")
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Demonstrator holds signs during a protest outside the office of Senator Amy Klobuchar in Minneapolis, after Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a US Border Patrol officer over the weekend. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
It was a particularly jarring turnabout for Trump, who had promised to be uncompromising on carrying out mass deportations of undocumented migrants during his 2024 campaign \u2014 and because Trump has repeatedly scorched Walz<\/a> and other Minnesota Democrats in personal terms for resisting his policies.<\/p>\n Trump said he had dispatched border czar Tom Homan to take charge. Meanwhile, senior Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino and some agents were expected to leave Minneapolis as early as Tuesday (local time), according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n Trump declared on social media that Walz \u201cwas happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I!\u201d Later, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed that some agents would be leaving the city after he spoke with Trump \u2014 and suggested that the president seemed to be coming to the conclusion that the current state of federal operations was unsustainable. Homan and Frey were expected to meet Tuesday.<\/p>\n Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Thomas Homan speaks during an interview in East Point, Ga., April 26, 2018. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n Trump’s change-up in Minnesota came after some Republicans questioned federal agents’ tactics<\/a> in Saturday’s incident as well as the White House’s response. Some high-ranking administration officials had branded Pretti a domestic terrorist even as videos of the encounter contradicted their narrative<\/a>.<\/p>\n Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Chris Madel, a Minneapolis attorney, ended his GOP campaign in a surprise video announcement, calling the recent immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities an \u201cunmitigated disaster\u201d and saying he no longer wanted to be a member of the party because of it.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has been a strong supporter of Trump\u2019s crackdown on immigration, offered measured criticism in an interview with conservative radio host Mark Davis, saying the White House needs to \u201crecalibrate\u201d what it was doing in Minnesota. Vermont’s Republican Governor Phil Scott called on Trump to reset and de-escalate.<\/p>\n \u201cAt best, these federal immigration operations are a complete failure of coordination of acceptable public safety and law enforcement practices training and leadership,\u201d Scott said. \u201cAt worst, it\u2019s a deliberate federal intimidation and incitement of American citizens that\u2019s resulting in the murder of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump had scorched Walz \u2013 now, they\u2019re on a ‘similar wavelength’<\/p>\n Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz holds a news conference at the Minnesota State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n The president’s approach toward Walz, who served as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, amounted to a sharp U-turn.<\/p>\n Just a day earlier, Trump\u2019s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, had derided Walz on social media as trying to \u201cincite attacks on” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The White House social media team in a series of posts called the governor \u201ca truly disturbed, unstable individual\u201d and an \u201cunhinged lunatic\u201d who \u201crants and raves and lies\u201d.<\/p>\n Miller also referred to Pretti, a nurse who worked at a Veterans Affairs hospital, as a \u201cwould-be assassin\u201d while Homeland Security Kristi Noem labeled the ICU nurse as committing an act of domestic terrorism.<\/p>\n The White House sidestepped whether Trump agreed with his senior aides’ rhetoric or whether the administration would apologise for it.<\/p>\n \u201cThis incident remains under investigation,\u201d press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. \u201cAnd nobody here at the White House, including the president of the United States, wants to see Americans hurt or killed and losing their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n His response has been muted compared to other recent deaths<\/p>\n Federal agents stand outside of a property in St Paul, Minnesota. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s response to the deaths of the two US citizens protesting in Minneapolis has been much more muted than reactions to political violence that he’s portrayed as targeting his own political movement.<\/p>\n After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September, the president spoke to the nation from the Oval Office and called Kirk\u2019s death \u201ca dark moment for America\u201d.<\/p>\n In November, Trump gave a national address after two National Guard members were shot in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national, one fatally. The guard members had been deployed to the nation’s capital as part of a federal mission to assist with local policing, and the president called the shooting \u201can act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.\u201d<\/p>\n But the president has yet to speak directly to the nation about the deaths in Minneapolis of Pretti and Renee Good<\/a>, another protester who was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this month. Trump has so far largely chosen to keep the public informed in the wake of Pretti\u2019s death with social media posts.<\/p>\n![\"Immigration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/immigration-and-customs-enforcement-acting-director-thomas-h-ZAUCLPXKO5BS5H5YYFK2VDFJLU.jpg\")
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