{"id":198567,"date":"2026-01-29T21:57:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/how-trump-decided-to-shift-his-strategy-in-minnesota-from-the-politics-desk-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:57:24","slug":"how-trump-decided-to-shift-his-strategy-in-minnesota-from-the-politics-desk-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/how-trump-decided-to-shift-his-strategy-in-minnesota-from-the-politics-desk-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trump decided to shift his strategy in Minnesota: From the Politics Desk – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Welcome to the online version of <\/em>From the Politics Desk<\/em><\/a>, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.<\/em>
In today\u2019s edition, we have an in-depth, behind-the-scenes report on how President Donald Trump changed his approach following the weekend shooting in Minneapolis. Plus, Andrea Mitchell digs into Trump\u2019s escalating threats against Iran. <\/em>
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.<\/em><\/a>
\u2014 Adam Wollner<\/em>
After Donald Trump<\/strong> and his top aides rushed to portray Alex Pretti<\/strong> as a \u201cgunman,\u201d \u201cdomestic terrorist\u201d and \u201cwould-be assassin\u201d in the hours after Border Patrol agents shot and killed him Saturday, the president shuttled back and forth between the Oval Office and his adjacent private dining room, where he watched news coverage of the incident and fielded calls from concerned aides, lawmakers and other allies, according to two senior administration officials.
Trump already had posted an image<\/a> of Pretti\u2019s legally permitted Sig Sauer P320, along with a message referring to Pretti as a \u201cgunman\u201d whose firearm was \u201cloaded (with two additional full magazines!), and ready to go.\u201d
But as he absorbed clips of the fatal confrontation and the news reports surrounding it, Trump grew increasingly disturbed by what he saw, according to one of the senior administration officials.
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t like chaos on his watch,\u201d the official said.
If Trump wasn\u2019t ready to change the tactics, he was starting to understand that he needed to change the optics. By Sunday night, Trump decided to hit the reset button while preserving the mass-deportation operation he promised to execute during his 2024 presidential campaign.
On Monday, Trump executed a bureaucratic face-lift<\/a> by removing confrontational Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino<\/strong> from the scene in Minneapolis, subbing in border czar Tom Homan<\/strong> \u2014 widely viewed as more placative \u2014 and effectively sidelining Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem<\/strong>. Trump also spoke by phone with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz<\/strong> and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey<\/strong>, Democrats he has harshly criticized in the past, about turning down the temperature.
While those moves may assuage establishment Republicans in Congress \u2014 and political independents distressed by the violence in Minnesota \u2014 they do not come without a cost for Trump among the MAGA base voters who did not want to see any sign of retreat from the hard-core immigration crackdown, said a Republican strategist with ties to the White House.
\u201cThe conservative base is pissed\u201d about what it sees as signs of weakness in his new approach in Minnesota, the strategist said, arguing that Trump is \u201cdemoralizing\u201d voters he needs to turn out for Republicans in this year\u2019s midterm elections. At the same time, Trump\u2019s aides have broken into ugly rounds of finger-pointing over the botched initial response to the shooting, blaming one another in private conversations with reporters.
This account of how Trump came to the conclusion that he needed to switch the script \u2014 dominated by the shooting deaths of two American citizens, the fast-declining popularity of his deportation tactics and calls for the ouster of prominent administration officials \u2014 was told to NBC News by 15 sources, many of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Read more \u2192<\/strong><\/a>
President Donald Trump<\/strong> is ramping up his threats against Iran, warning today that a \u201cmassive armada\u201d is closing in \u2014 a larger fleet than the U.S. naval force he sent to the Caribbean before the U.S. military action in Venezuela \u2014 and that time is running out<\/a> for Iran to negotiate a nuclear deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi<\/strong> countered that his country\u2019s armed forces are ready \u201cwith their fingers on the trigger\u201d for an immediate and powerful response. Iran also suggested an off-ramp, saying it \u201cstands ready for dialogue\u201d but will defend itself. With the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln now in the region, is another U.S. strike against Iran imminent?
Significantly, U.S. Arab partners in the Persian Gulf have been lobbying Trump against such an attack. Saudi Arabia has now joined the United Arab Emirates in ruling out using its territory or airspace for military action against Iran, fearing retaliation from even a weakened Tehran\u2019s missiles and drones.
The Saudi leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/strong>, also spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian<\/strong> yesterday, a possible back channel to the White House. That would explain Trump\u2019s saying Iran has been messaging that it wants to negotiate. Still, Araghchi said he has not spoken to Trump\u2019s special envoy, Steve Witkoff<\/strong>, recently or requested talks.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for the first time since last spring, Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/strong> said the U.S. is prepared to defend against any Iranian attack on the 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops based in the Middle East \u2014 or to strike pre-emptively to prevent such an attack. Rubio also said the Iranian regime is weaker than at any other time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A source familiar with the latest intelligence given Trump told NBC News that while the protests in Iran have died down momentarily, the economic problems that sparked the widespread uprising have not abated.
At the same time, there is no obvious opposition prepared to take over. Rubio told senators, \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone can give you a simple answer as to what happens next in Iran if the supreme leader and the regime were to fall, other than the hope there would be somebody within their systems to work towards a similar transition\u201d to the one in Venezuela.
And a footnote on the roots of America\u2019s conflict with Iran\u2019s Islamic regime: On this day in 1980, a daring CIA operative named Tony Mendez<\/strong> led a rescue of six Americans hiding in Canada\u2019s embassy in Tehran who had evaded capture when 52 of their colleagues were taken captive by Iranian revolutionaries.
Mendez disguised the American diplomats as a Canadian film crew on location to shoot a movie in the desert. The operation was dramatized decades later in the Oscar-winning film \u201cArgo\u201d by Ben Affleck<\/strong>. The State Department celebrated the Canadian ambassador to Iran for his bravery in hiding the Americans, and Mendez won commendations from the CIA for his heroism.
That\u2019s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today\u2019s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner. <\/em>
If you have feedback \u2014 likes or dislikes \u2014 email us at <\/em>politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com<\/strong><\/em><\/a>
And if you\u2019re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up <\/em>here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. <\/em>
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© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeWelcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team\u2019s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.In today\u2019s edition, we have an in-depth, behind-the-scenes report on how President Donald Trump […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198568,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-198567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}