To get beyond Minneapolis, GOP, it’s still ‘the economy, stupid’

Overly aggressive ICE enforcement, particularly in Minneapolis, has taken a heavy toll on President Trump and his party, but they have a winning path ahead: Remain moderate on immigration enforcement and pivot to their strength — the economy.

Absent excessive enforcement, Democrats’ message on immigration will be driven by the extremists who’ve dominated the party on this issue for a decade now: Ideologues who want to abolish ICE altogether and insist any immigration enforcement is illegitimate.

On immigration as everything else, most Americans will take moderation over extremism any day.

Dems are already overplaying their hand as they try to exploit public backlash over ICE-related chaos and the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good for as long as possible.

Driven by the radicals, Democrats have even fallen back into “shut down the government!” mode.

Sen. Chuck Schumer and other adults cut a deal to prevent the extremists from shutting down almost half the government for another prolonged standoff; now the only threat is to stop funds for (most of) the Department of Homeland Security starting Feb. 14.

But Democratic leaders are reportedly wary of actual debate over this standoff, and rightly so: Their party’s demand now is for restrictions on ICE and the Border Patrol, including some that would all but halt enforcement.

Worse, this shutdown won’t impact ICE; its funding was secured in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

So Dems are looking only to force Transportation Security Administration agents at airports to work without pay and slow disaster relief from FEMA during national emergencies. Brilliant.

Crucially, Trump has already eased up: He withdrew 700 federal agents from Minneapolis, sidelined DHS boss Kristi Noem and Customs and Border Protection chief Gregory Bovino and had border czar Tom Homan strike a deal with state and city officials in Minnesota to expand cooperation.

Americans overwhelmingly support immigration enforcement — done with due regard for law and order, which is not what they were seeing in Minneapolis.

Ideally, of course, the whole country would get to a broad agreement on immigration policy — solid borders, tough but unintrusive interior enforcement, perhaps a path to legal residency for some who entered illegally but have since been solid “citizens” — and with standards for legal immigration that genuinely serves the nation’s needs.

But for now Team Trump should continue enforcing the law, while keeping the president’s promise to concentrate on “the worst of the worst” and reining in agents’ in-your-face approach.

If Democrats insist on staying in #Resistance mode, with their radicals steering their course and supporting interference with ICE operations by over-the-top protesters, the damage done to the GOP by the Minneapolis chaos will fade.

In any case, Republicans face a much higher priority: shifting their focus to Americans’ top concern: the economy.

They’d like inflation to drop more, but it’s certainly been low compared to the Biden years; more important, economic growth is getting stronger: After an impressive 4.4% inflation-adjusted GDP boost in 2025’s third quarter, forecasts for the fourth and current quarters have been running at 4%, 5% and higher.

Markets have been doing well, too: The Dow broke 50,000 on Friday.

From the president on down, the GOP needs to keep the conversation fixed on growing jobs and real wages; let Democrats stomp their feet on irrelevant issues.

Sure, the donkeys will do everything they can to provoke Trump, and he can be thin-skinned enough to take the bait.

But if he resists, stays the course and focuses on how the GOP is delivering “affordability,” the country — and his party — will fare well.