Renee Good, JD Vance, + the Death of Accountability

The Lincoln Project

Government, News, Politics, News Commentary

4.7 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we confront MAGA’s escalating performative cruelty following the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis — a woman shot and killed by an ICE officer and then posthumously smeared as a “domestic terrorist” to justify the violence. As facts emerged, the Trump movement did what it always does: lied, dehumanized, and closed ranks around power. JD Vance went even further, effectively arguing for blanket immunity for federal agents, treating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an untouchable arm of the state — Trump’s modern secret police. This episode breaks down how authoritarian movements manufacture enemies, why disinformation follows state violence every time, and how Donald Trump’s political culture rewards cruelty over truth. This isn’t about law and order — it’s about power without accountability, the erosion of civil liberties, and what it means when a political movement decides some lives are disposable. Say her name: Renee Good.
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If you'd like to support Renee Good’s wife and son, below is a link to their publicly accessible GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-renee-goods-wife-and-son

Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battlehardt.
0:06.2	There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America.
0:14.5	Good night and good luck.
0:16.9	Hey folks, it's Rick Wilson. Welcome to 2026 and welcome to this year's first edition of The Elephant in the Room.
0:23.7	The Elephant of the Room this week is Magus Performative Cruelty.
0:33.7	Watching Renee Good get shot in the face this week.
0:50.8	No! No! Shame!
0:55.2	Shame!
0:57.8	Oh my fucking God!
1:02.0	Led to a reaction from the Maga world that you could have predicted.
1:04.3	It was cruel.
1:06.2	It was outrageous.
1:08.2	It was noisy.
1:13.9	It, from the very beginning, involved accusing her of being a domestic terrorist,
1:18.3	accusing her for trying to kill the ice agents in Minneapolis.
1:20.5	It was an act of domestic terrorism.
1:24.8	What happened was our ice officers were out in an enforcement action.
1:29.3	They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them
1:33.3	and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle.
1:37.3	An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him.
1:45.0	And my understanding is that she was hit and is deceased.
1:48.0	We're continuing to gather more information, but this goes to show the assaults that
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