Reader draws ‘1984’ parallels in officials’ account of Good shooting

To the Editor:

Last week I read an editorial written by George Ayoub, a columnist who writes for the Nebraska Examiner, among others. In it he mentioned George Orwell’s “1984” and wondered if it should be mandatory reading for Nebraska high school students. One statement from that book has long stood out: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

I can’t help but apply this instruction to President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and agency spokepersons after the shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis at 9:37 a.m. Jan. 7 while she was in her car.

Two hours after the shooting, Homeland Security posted a statement on X blaming Good, claiming rioters began blocking ICE officers and “one of those violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them. An ICE officer fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.”

At about the same time during a press conference in Brownsville, Texas, Noem said it was an “act of domestic terrorism” and that ice agents were attacked by a woman in her vehicle who tried to run them over and ram them.

Shortly after that Donald Trump weighed in by saying he viewed a clip of the event ... and that “the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense ... it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”

The next day JD Vance held a press conference and stated “The reason this woman is dead is because she was trying to ram this guy with her car. He shot back. He defended himself. It’s a tragedy of her own making. You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that.” He also accused media outlets that are reporting what happened any differently of “lying about this attack.”

All four statements are lies. None of the ICE agents other than the shooter was even remotely in any danger and he had stepped to the left side of the car when he pulled out his gun and shot through the windshield at the driver who can be seen in another video turning her steering wheel to the right before the shot was fired to avoid hitting the man. Then as her car moves past the shooter, he points his gun through the open driver’s side window within inches of Ms. Good’s head, at which point he was no longer in danger, and shoots her two more times. Only at that point does the car accelerate down the street.

The message is clear. It shows in a microcosm the stark reality of Trump and his MAGA movement. He and his minions will tell you what you saw. They will tell you what you heard. They expect you to believe them. None of the politicians who represent us will do or say anything to hold him or his administration accountable. Not Tom Tiffany. Not Ron Johnson. And neither will Gregg Walker and Richard Moore of this newspaper. 

Erik Matson

Rhinelander