Tucker Carlson Criticizes MAGA Reactions to Fatal ICE Shooting:
Tucker Carlson has joined the conservative crowd with comments about the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, who was killed Wednesday in Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
However, the former News host had a completely different reaction than many of his peers.
Carlson criticized his fellow conservatives for using the tragedy “to score political points,” while condemning liberal leaders like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for “behaving like children” by ordering ICE to “get the hell out of” the city.
“But it should be secondary to the tragedy of Renee Nicole Good losing her life,” Carlson wrote Thursday in his newsletter to subscribers.
“The 37-year-old woman was a U.S. citizen and reportedly the mother of a preschool-aged child. Did we disagree with her views on immigration? Probably,” he continued. “But that shouldn’t matter. His death is a tragedy, regardless of his party affiliations, ideological beliefs or who pulled the trigger. A woman was shot in the face. How come so few conservatives see this history through a human lens?
Footage of the incident showed masked ICE agents approaching Good’s car as it partially blocked a road, reaching through the open driver’s seat window. Finally, an officer identified as Jonathan Ross appeared to shoot him in the head, at close range, as he tried to walk away.
No footage of the incident shows Good attempting to run over the officers, as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance claimed. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem even said Good engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.”
Many conservative voices have celebrated or defended the fatal shooting on social media.
Carlson argued in his newsletter that “the other side” did just that after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was murdered in September, although most of the pundits and Democratic lawmakers accused of doing so argued that they were simply opposed to Kirk’s political views. Trump and Vance were quick to blame the “radical left” for Kirk’s murder.
Carlson argued Thursday that violence around the world is “desensitizing Americans to domestic violence,” adding that while Trump supporters and critics debate the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela, few have focused on the death toll of at least 75 people.
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Carlson says Americans have become too accustomed to “stories of US-backed IDF barbarities” in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces have continued killing Palestinians amid a gradual ceasefire, all with taxpayer-funded US military aid.
“If America were in a better place, everyone, regardless of politics, would pause when something like the Minneapolis shooting happens and at least acknowledge the human tragedy,” Carlson wrote. “But that doesn’t happen because, compared to the countless foreign murders our government routinely causes, Good’s death doesn’t seem that big of a deal. She’s just another headline.”
Carlson frequently praised Trump during his many years as News’ most-watched host, and despite private text messages from 2021 revealing that he “passionately” hated the MAGA leader, he endorsed Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Carlson left News in 2023 to launch his own broadcast network. He has since broken with Trump over his administration’s current role in the Israel-Gaza conflict, periodically urging on his show that Trump should focus on domestic issues affecting Americans.