Democrats spent months calling ICE agents Nazis.
Now they're running scared after one of their own connected the dots.
And one Democrat strategist just broke ranks and exposed the ugly truth about ICE violence.
Democrat insider blames his own party for creating "permission structure" for violence
Democrat strategist Julian Epstein did something almost unheard of in Washington, D.C.
He told the truth about his own party on national television.
Epstein went on Mark Halperin's "2WAY TONIGHT" and said something Democrats don't want to hear.
His party's rhetoric created what he called a "permission structure" for violence against ICE agents.
"They have not only failed to condemn violence in a meaningful way on an ongoing basis, using the language of Gestapo and they're an occupying force and all this other incendiary language is giving a permission structure to, I think, a lot of the people on the professional left that are being, in my opinion, funded and is giving a permission structure for these violent confrontations, which tragically ended yesterday in a death," Epstein said.
He was referencing the shooting in Minneapolis where an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good after she accelerated her vehicle toward agents during an enforcement operation.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz immediately disputed that account, claiming the shooting wasn't justified.
But here's what Democrats won't tell you.
The ICE agent who pulled that trigger had been run over and dragged by an anti-ICE protester just seven months earlier.
He knew exactly what a vehicle attack looks like because he'd barely survived one.
Walz called ICE agents "modern-day Gestapo" then acted shocked when violence followed
Governor Walz stood in front of law school graduates in May and compared ICE agents to Hitler's secret police.
"Donald Trump's modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets," Walz told the University of Minnesota Law School graduates. "They're in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons, no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared."
You call federal agents Nazis for eight months, then act surprised when left-wing activists start treating them like the enemy.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu compared masked ICE agents to neo-Nazis during a June press conference.
After the shooting, Frey screamed at ICE to "Get the f*** out of Minneapolis."
That's not leadership.
That's giving radicals permission to attack federal law enforcement.
Epstein didn't mince words about how Democrat politicians created the environment for violence.
"Democratic officials have totally failed to understand the distinction between free speech protest on the one hand and active obstruction and attacks of law enforcement on the other hand," Epstein explained. "At least some of the responsibility has got to be laid on my side, the Democratic side."
The numbers prove Democrats created a war zone for ICE agents
The Department of Homeland Security tracked 99 vehicle ramming attacks against federal agents between January and November 2024.
That's double what happened during the same stretch in 2023.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that coordinated groups are training activists to weaponize vehicles during ICE operations.
This isn't protesters getting carried away.
It's organized domestic terrorism with instruction manuals on how to run over federal agents.
Epstein mentioned the "professional left that are being, in my opinion, funded" for a reason.
Someone is paying for these coordinated attacks.
Someone is organizing protesters to show up at ICE operations with vehicles as weapons.
Someone is teaching them that ramming federal agents isn't just acceptable but heroic resistance against "Trump's Gestapo."
The ICE agent who shot Renee Good survived exactly that kind of attack in June when an anti-ICE rioter rammed him with a car and dragged him down the street.
Now Democrats are calling him a murderer.
Trump was right about left-wing domestic terrorism
Since Charlie Kirk's assassination, Trump has designated multiple left-wing organizations as terrorist groups.
Democrats screamed about constitutional rights and government overreach.
The shooting proves Trump was right.
Democrats can call their rhetoric "free speech" all they want.
But creating a "permission structure" for running over federal agents is inciting violence.
Coordinated groups training activists to weaponize vehicles against law enforcement?
That's domestic terrorism.
Vehicle attacks doubling in a single year means this isn't a protest anymore.
It's organized warfare against the United States government.
Epstein is the only Democrat honest enough to admit what his party created.
Every other Democrat leader is still pretending Walz's "Gestapo" rhetoric had nothing to do with the violence.
They're still acting like Frey screaming profanities at federal agents is appropriate.
They're still funding the groups teaching protesters to ram ICE vehicles.
The blood is on their hands.
And one of their own just told America exactly how it got there.
Sources:
- Daily Caller News Foundation, "Democrat Strategist Unleashes On Own Party Over Giving 'Permission Structure' For Violence Against ICE," January 9, 2026.
- Fox News, "Gov. Walz compares ICE to the Gestapo, Trump admin calls remarks 'dangerous,'" May 20, 2025.
- NPR, "What we know one day after the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis," January 8, 2026.
- The Hill, "Tim Walz compares Donald Trump's ICE to Nazi's Gestapo," May 19, 2025.
