You know that feeling when you confidently assert something, absolutely certain you’re right, only to have the evidence smack you in the face five seconds later?
Most of us call that “embarrassment.”
Donald Trump, however, just calls that Wednesday.
In a scene that would be comedy if it weren’t so deeply tragic, the President of the United States just tried to gaslight The New York Times reporters in real-time.
And spoiler alert: It didn’t go well for him.
The “Vicious” Narrative
Here is the setup.
An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman, in Minneapolis.
Immediately, the MAGA machine kicked into high gear.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, never one to let a tragedy go to waste without spin, claimed Good was “stalking” officers.
Noem stated the agent “used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.”
Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, was ready to parrot the party line.
He told reporters that Good “behaved horribly.”
He didn’t stop there.
“And then she ran him over,” Trump declared. “She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over.”
Confident. Absolute. Completely detached from reality.
The Tape Don’t Lie
When Times reporters pointed out that the videos circulating online were, well, unclear about this supposed “running over” incident, Trump pulled his classic power move.
“I’ll play the tape for you right now,” he said.
He actually ordered aide Natalie Harp to bring a laptop to the Resolute Desk.
He was going to show these fake news reporters the truth.
He was going to vindicate his “reflexive defense” of his violent crackdown.
And then… the video played.
“Well… The Way I Look At It…”
Video of the Minneapolis ICE shooting completely contradicting ICE's account that the driver was trying to ram anyone. Looks like they were turning around to leave, and immediately lit up pic.twitter.com/PwUZkPkIVt
— Abject Zero (@AbjectZero) January 7, 2026
As the slow-motion footage rolled, the reporters pointed out a tiny, insignificant detail.
The video did not show an officer being run over.
At all.
And for a brief, glorious second, the bluster deflated.
“Well,” Trump stammered, watching the screen. “I — the way I look at it … “
The way you look at it?
Sir, we are looking at a screen.
It’s not a Rorschach test.
It’s a video of an American citizen dying.
The Pivot of Shame
Confronted with the fact that his “she ran him over” narrative was dissolving faster than his spray tan in a rainstorm, Trump did what he does best.
He pivoted.
“It’s a terrible scene,” he admitted at the end of the clip. “I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it.”
Did he admit he was wrong?
Did he apologize for smearing the victim?
Of course not.
When asked if his ICE operation had gone too far, he sidestepped.
He blamed his predecessor’s immigration policies.
Because in Trump World, the buck stops anywhere but here.
Even Tom Homan, Trump’s own “border czar,” had enough sense to tell CBS News, “Let the investigation play out.”
But not Trump.
He wanted to be the judge, jury, and video editor.
And when the tape didn’t match the script, he just changed the subject.
Based on the report by The New York Times.
