Former U.S. president and first lady Barack and Michelle Obama released a searing statement on Sunday, in response to the second shooting death by immigration law enforcement officers in Minneapolis, saying federal officers appear to be using tactics “designed to intimidate, harass, provoke and endanger” Minnesota residents.

The couple said U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration officials “seem eager to escalate the situation,” adding, “This has to stop.”

The statement is the latest in a number of bipartisan criticisms of the Trump administration, as well as calls for accountability, amid the current climate in Minneapolis — where federal law enforcement clashed with protesters who poured into the frigid streets over the weekend, in a city already shaken by another shooting death less than three weeks earlier.

“Rather than trying to impose some semblance of discipline and accountability over the agents they’ve deployed, the President and current administration officials seem eager to escalate the situation, while offering public explanations for the shootings of Mr. [Alex] Pretti and Renee Good that aren’t informed by any serious investigation — and that appear to be directly contradicted by video evidence,” the Obamas wrote.

    • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
      21·
      2 hours ago

      Call the convicted rapist fascist dictator what he is, in those words. Call for his death, which is what he has earned. Visit ICE death camps and be photographed holding a sign calling them death camps, which is what they are.

      If Greta Tunberg could do it as a teenager, Barack “Double-Tap Drone Strike” Obama can do it too.

    • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldEnglish
      396·
      10 hours ago

      Even in a minority position, elected officeholders have a bully pulpit, and any US Congresscritter or Senator — certainly a former President and First Lady — are among the most politically powerful people in America. Any of them could call up a local TV station, ask for an interview, and they’d gladly put them on the air, and they could actually say something people need to hear. They could come to a rally, post a video to YouTube. Any high level Dems could show up somewhere or simply speak up and get the press and the people’s attention, effectively sounding an alarm.

      The Obamas said nothing for a month of Minnesota’s occupation, a silence that sadly speaks louder than their statements yesterday. Having finally said things that have been obvious for weeks, I expect they’ll return to silence today — but jiminy jeepers I’d love to be wrong.

      • eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        322·
        10 hours ago

        They could be on national tv with this. They could be calling for a general strike. They could be calling for prosecution. They could be calling to abolish ice. They could be calling for impeachment.

        This is pathetic.

        • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldEnglish
          65·
          9 hours ago

          It’s Groundhog Day? Barack & Michelle Obama will now return to their hibernation for another six weeks of winter…

    • comador @lemmy.worldEnglish
      222·
      10 hours ago

      What would you have Barack and Michelle Obama do?

      Assuming they’re going to be the mouth piece for the Democrats, then they should not only be condemning it, they should be rallying everyone on Capitol Hill that to act in unison against it.

      The issue with this currently as I know it directly from an active member of Congress is:

      • NO ONE in the Democratic Party wants to stick their neck out to do anything.
      • NO ONE in the Democratic Party has the courage nor accountability to act.
      • EVERY ONE in the Democratic Party is waiting for someone else to lead the assault on MAGA and it’s not coming.

      Further, it’s been suggested that the Democrats could do more within the party and even without leadership. However. they’re too scared due to threats by MAGAts. Two of the memos I was told about suggest:

      • Congressional members against Trump who, if they rally together, can force MAGAs hand.

      • Judges against Trump who, if they rally together, can impede Trump actions at the court level and inundate the DOJ and Supreme Court with unfulfilled MAGA actions.

      Still. they sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing. Democrats, Republicans, it doesn’t matter anymore. None of them care about the people and it’s inaction or actions within the past year which prove that.

      • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        9 hours ago

        If they did that — if they’d been doing that for a year — we’d perhaps have an opposition party, and there wouldn’t be tens of thousands of people in the street and Renée Good and Alex Pretti would be alive and well.