Ice Shootings Are Freaking Out The Gop. They’re Afraid To Tell Trump.

To cover the Republican Party in the age of President Donald Trump requires a grasp of cryptology.

Because of the unflinching personal loyalty he demands, and punishment he’ll administer on public dissenters, leading GOP officials speak in rhetorical code.

And in the aftermath of the second killing by federal agents of a protester in Minnesota, there’s been a stream of statements, comments and sound bites from party lawmakers that beg for translation.

Before we get to the private and public messages being transmitted, however, a word on what top Republicans actually believe about what has become a deepening crisis for the White House, based on my conversations over the last two days.

They are concerned more protests to the bloodshed may beget additional incidents, have little faith in DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and, from a raw political standpoint, worry the party has squandered the best issues it had when voters were otherwise frustrated with the cost of living: the border and public order.

Immigration, broadly, as one veteran senator granted anonymity to speak candidly told me over the weekend, is for the GOP what health care is for Democrats — a “home game.” Yet with viral images of Americans being shot in broad daylight replacing migrants stampeding across the country’s border, that advantage is quickly dissipating.

So what are Republican elected officials doing to address what could prove calamitous, for the country and their political fortunes?

To date, it’s the usual approach.

They plead with Trump and his advisers in private to calm tensions, as a handful did this weekend. However, most officials hope one of their colleagues can do that work so they don’t have to play the heavy. “You can talk to them” or “Can you talk to them?” are phrases I don’t need access to text chains to know are being relayed between top Republicans.

When lawmakers do reach Trump, the dialogue is similar to those private messages he posted last week from European leaders eager to get him off his Greenland fetish: Start with praise and flattery before moving to the heart of the matter.

And while hope may not be a strategy, as the saying goes, there’s a whole lot of hope among Republican officials — mostly that they don’t have to go public with their true feelings, because if they wait for a few days the president will consume so much media coverage he’ll recognize the depth of the crisis.

The first signs of that shift emerged Sunday night. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey, Trump declined to say the officer who killed Alex Pretti had done the right thing and pronounced that “we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination.” That came, it barely requires noting, all of one day after Trump justified the killing and his lieutenants did as well, in even starker terms.

Monday morning, Trump took concrete steps to marginalize Noem and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, who have become the face of the feds in Minnesota, appointing a new point person in the state and new chain of command.

“I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight,” the president announced about his border czar. “He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me.”

The sound you hear is the president, once again, sawing off the limb after his loyalists climbed out on it with what credibility they have in tow.

This all begs the question of why, if the president is so responsive to the press narrative, more in his party don’t speak out in ways that will shape the story.

They are, but you have to know how to decipher their language.

First, there’s the method of: “The president can’t fail, he can only be failed.”

Which means, Republicans blame Trump’s advisers rather than risk angering the president by assigning the most powerful leader in the world agency of his own.

“He is a dealmaker, and he’s getting bad advice right now,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said on CNN Sunday.

Stretching even further was Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a master student of the blame-advisers-not-Trump school: “Any administration official who rushes to judgment and tries to shut down an investigation before it begins are doing an incredible disservice to the nation and to President Trump’s legacy.”

Tillis is only looking to help the president and secure his legacy, you see.

In another television interview, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky) deployed the “I’m-only-thinking-out-loud-here” approach of trying to get through to Trump and his aides.

Rather than say: Hell yes, we should yank federal immigration officials from Minnesota and end this fiasco, Comer tried to say it this way on Fox:

“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about, OK, if the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more, you know, innocent lives or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide, ‘Do we want to continue to have all of these illegals?’”

Just asking questions, you know.

Then there’s the Senate sandwich.

Deliver the meat of the message, or at least a palatable version of it, but between to-be-sure paragraphs.

“As I have often said, I support the Border Patrol, ICE and the critical work they do to enforce our laws,” Sen. David McCormick (R-PA) began. “Irresponsible rhetoric and a lack of cooperation from Minnesota’s politicians are fueling a dangerous situation.”

Then came the news, delivered with the perfuming cover of a right-coded affinity group: “I also agree with the NRA and others — we need a full investigation into the tragedy in Minneapolis. We need all the facts.”

The conclusion: “We must enforce our laws in a way that protects the public while maintaining its trust. This gives our law enforcement officers the best chance to succeed in their difficult mission.”

Lastly, there’s that old reliable for politicians of all stripes: calls for hearings and an independent investigation.

Not coincidentally, one of the first Republicans to take this tack was Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who’s been somewhat liberated thanks to Trump’s decision to exact revenge on Cassidy for his 2021 impeachment vote by backing a primary challenger to the senator this year.

To Cassidy’s credit, he went further than most of his colleagues by saying what’s manifestly obvious: “The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake.”

Beating Cassidy to the punch, and in a sign of how the politics of immigration have shifted because of the killings, the House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino requested ICE officials testify before his panel.

“Congress has an important responsibility to ensure the safety of law enforcement and the people they serve and protect,” said Garbarino, by way of announcing his turn toward oversight.

There was no mention of Pretti or Renee Good, who were neither served nor protected, but the message was there if you knew where to look.