Trump Press Sec’s Weird Cult Moment on Fox Wrecked by Fresh ICE Horror

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt went full North Korea cult propagandist on Fox News, gushing that the ICE crackdown in Minneapolis has been a “resounding success.” Never mind that two Americans were murdered, violent civil conflict has reigned, and Trump’s approval has cratered. Leavitt also undercut her own spin by describing all arrested by ICE as “criminals” and insisting the operation is “targeted”—revealing she can’t tell the truth about its targeting of noncriminals because it’s so widely hated. She was further undermined by the shocking news that two ICE agents lied about an incident leading to the shooting of an immigrant, a reminder that this entire fiasco has been perpetually awash in lawless horror. We talked to Democratic messaging strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio, who explains how that shooting wrecks White House spin, why Trump’s propaganda narratives are collapsing at a deep level, why he’s in an unusually weak position, and what Democrats can do with their own narratives to seize the moment. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:44.5	This is the daily blastast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:46.8	I'm your host, Greg Sargent. Now that Donald Trump appears to be largely drawing down his violent occupation of Minneapolis,
1:01.2	the administration is resorting to a time-honored tradition, declare victory and go home.
1:07.4	In a bizarre interview, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt went full cult and called the operation a resounding success,
1:14.6	but she also spun it as targeting criminals, effectively revealing that it's no longer possible to tell the truth about Trump's actual mass deportation agenda.
1:25.6	This is a moment of unusual political vulnerability for Trump and the White
1:30.0	House on this issue, but are Democrats doing all they can to exploit it? We think they're not.
1:36.9	So we're talking to Anat Shanker Osorio, a Democratic message strategist who often argues that
1:42.9	Dems let polls limit their ability to exploit
1:45.8	critical political opportunities. Anat, nice to have you on. Thank you so much. So borders are Tom
1:53.0	Holman announced this week that the quote unquote surge in Minneapolis will now end because he
1:58.4	doesn't want to see any more bloodshed. Time will tell how real that is,
2:02.6	but I can report that some people in the state do think it's real. Now, listen to Caroline Levitt
2:07.7	address the situation on Fox News. Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota has been a resounding success.
2:14.6	It has resulted in the detention and deportation of more than 4,000
2:19.2	illegal alien criminals. Let me repeat, 4,000 illegal alien criminals just from Minnesota alone.
2:26.4	And while the surge is coming to an end, immigration enforcement in Minnesota absolutely will not.
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