How Different Are Trump State Killings from Other Police Deaths?

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By Thomas Neuburger

It’s easy enough to be appalled at events like those we’ve seen, the beatings and murders that are visited on our people. But the implications are worse — are broader than most people fear. Yes, horrible things are happening. That’s about now, the present. But what about the future?

I’ll divide this discussion into two parts — a more basic point today, then next week, the big implications.

How Are These Cop Murders Different?

Put simply, how are the recent cop murders — of Renée Good, of Alex Pretti — different from other cop murders?

You could argue that these are ICE killings, and ICE — blown up under Trump, almost not trained at all, and Proud Boys-adjacent — hires a “new” kind of cop, one not like the rest.

But that’s not true. Pretti was murdered, apparently in cold blood, by Customs and Border Protection agents. The Border Patrol was started in 1924. These are cops — like FBI agents are cops, like city police are cops, like county sheriffs are cops. And cops, who kill all the time, mostly never see jail or a court. It’s widely thought cops often lie (there are businesses built to catch them), and the Supreme Court has ruled they can lie during interrogation. Cops do what they want, have always done, always will.

Here’s a site that maps police violence. Some data from that source:

From 2013 through 2026, it’s a straight-line graph through the year — death strikes like a clock, tik-tok, and the rate never slows.

Here’s the same graph, by the way, with the “Officer Charged” box changed to show cops who got away with the killing. See a difference? If there is, it’s not much at all.

Some of these shootings are justified — “good kills” in cop speak. But two-thirds of the killings start with no crime at all, or with a non-violent offense.

George Floyd, for example, was killed, apparently, for the crime of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a convenience store. (The store owner later said that most people who use fake money don’t know they have it.)

And many are killed for the crime of trying to flee.

The point is, this is not new. Nor is lying about the facts until the lies are contradicted by evidence, if that happens at all. It’s just what they do, the cops — the good ones cover for bad, and thus all are complicit.

So how is this different, these Trump deaths, from cop deaths overall?

The Actual Differences

As near as I can tell, the biggest differences are these:

• Trump is the perp at the top, not Bush, Obama or Biden. Each of the others were in favor with mainstream elites — party, politicians, media, makers of public opinion. George Bush, torturer, killer, is especially loved.

How can you not like that face?

• At the same time Trump is so hated. Unlike the others, elites know quite well who he is. If Bush were hated like Trump is — publicly, blatantly — maybe a million dead would be living today.

• The truth is too obvious. The videos show too much of the facts. Those looking for ambiguity struggle to find it.

• The government lies are too blatant. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, for example, said Pretti was “brandishing” a firearm and was planning to murder federal agents. That’s clearly not true, yet the statements come out of her mouth as though facts weren’t the facts. It’s not an incompetent cover-up — there’s no cover-up at all. “Believe it or you’ll be next” — that’s all they have.

Of course, there’s much more to object to with Trump State policing — ICE in the streets, abductions, masks, no warrants. There’s no doubt the times are different.

But are the deaths?

Normally, when there’s this kind of event, the government — FBI, DHS, chief of police, whoever — dances, pretends, calls for investigation, fiddles (or not) with the evidence, expresses concern, gives just enough credence to lies that those who want the killed to be dead can live feeling justified. And once in a decade or so, some cop goes to jail.

Not now. These Trump State deaths — and here’s the real difference — they rip off the mask of previous-state police killing. Today, they don’t even pretend. The empire declares itself, the ruler stands proudly naked, and cops kill as if it’s their right.

It is their right — has been for quite a while — but usually they don’t say it out loud.

So is this a Trump-only phenomenon? Will the mask of these murders stay off, or be slid back in place when a more acceptable boss is running the show?

I don’t have the answer. And frankly, I doubt the dead care.

The Bigger Big Picture

There’s one more piece in this set. These events and the Trumpian State have big implications. Next week I’ll tease that out for you.