Two women were killed. MAGA's reactions lay bare its callous indifference to reality

Like everyone, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about Renee Nicole Good and the horrible fate that befell her in Minneapolis last Wednesday. Given what we’ve seen on video, that there is even debate over whether she deserved to die is absolutely unfathomable.

Facts:

• Good was murdered (not merely “killed”) by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, in cold blood, at point blank range.
  
• Ross purposefully stepped into the path of Good’s SUV and made sure he was (briefly) in harm’s way before firing the first shot as Good attempted to steer around him. The second and third shots were the results of pure fury.
• Good was friendly and peaceful and in no way gunning to harm any ICE agent — as seen on Ross’s own cellphone recording.
• By contrast, Ross was rageful and homicidal, seemingly hellbent on murdering Good for the crime of failing to follow a ludicrous order. Or because her wife was talking smack to him. Or both. His dismissing her — after blowing her away — as a “f------ bitch” speaks to a devastating lack of respect for human life.
  
• Good was initially denied lifesaving medical aid.
• Good was not a “domestic terrorist” but a woman who had just dropped her six-year-old child at school. The only terrorists were the ones she encountered, wearing masks and vests.

Almost equally terrifying were the immediate attacks on Good from Donald Trump, JD Vance, Kristi Noem, and others in positions of authority in the administration — before they knew a thing about her.

Good was reduced to a supposed subhuman, by people who dismissed her as a deserving victim in their ongoing assault on Blue America.

Furthermore, the FBI quickly announced that Minnesota state officials would not be permitted to participate in any investigation into Good’s death.

In layman’s terms, that’s called a cover-up.

Now let’s travel back to January 6, 2021, and a justifiable killing.

Ashli Babbitt was part of the mob that Trump provoked to storm the U.S. Capitol. A 35-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, she was an increasingly radicalized adherent of the QAnon conspiracy theory, conditioned to believe the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump – because he said so.

Despite multiple warnings not to proceed, Babbitt attempted to climb through a shattered window beside a barricaded door to the House Speaker’s Lobby. At that point, she was shot in the shoulder, from inside the lobby, by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Lieutenant Michael Byrd.

After a USCP emergency response team administered aid, Babbitt was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she died. Found to be carrying a pocketknife, she was the lone insurrectionist shot and killed by police.

USCP deemed the shooting “lawful and within department policy” and to have “potentially saved members of Congress and staff from serious injury and possible death.”

Almost immediately, Trump and MAGAworld seized on Babbitt’s killing as unnecessary, with Trump himself describing her, to Fox News, as “an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman.”

Unaddressed was the matter of Babbitt having attempted to smash her way into a government building with potentially murderous intent, as part of an angry mob looking to halt the certification of a presidential election.

Again: she was warned repeatedly to stop.

To those behind Trump’s Stop the Steal movement, none of this mattered at all. Babbitt was a perfect martyr for the cause, despite her death happening amid violent mayhem.

Trump jumped on the narrative that Babbitt was sacrificed for being a woman and it was up to him to protect women — which, given his professed penchant for grabbing women by the genitals, could not have been more ridiculous. Nonetheless, he insisted she died for lack of protection.

In April 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice under President Joe Biden announced following an investigation there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution of the officer who fired.

The key word here is “investigation.” A real one took place.

In early 2024, Babitt’s family filed a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government. It went nowhere until last May, when the Trump administration reached an agreement to pay a $5 million settlement on the civil complaint.

Then, in August, the U.S. Air Force astonishingly confirmed it would confer full military funeral honors to Babbitt, a decision that inspired anger from those who still see the January 6 insurrection as a black eye on America’s soul.

Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, a member of the House January 6 Committee and an Air Force veteran, called the decision “disgusting.”

Micki Witthoeft, mother of Ashli Babbitt, speaks in Washington, D.C., last week. REUTERS/Leah Millis

So let’s compare and contrast.

Last week, in Minneapolis, a woman in her mid-30s looking to assist those targeted by ICE, who was otherwise minding her own business and looking to depart the scene once trouble started, had three bullets pumped into her face, was denied immediate medical aid, and in death was instantly denigrated and defamed as a liberal agitator who got what was coming.

Five years ago, in Washington, D.C., a woman in her mid-30s driven by conspiratorial, delusional mania was killed for, it seemed, looking to harm her perceived enemies. Her death was mourned by the same people who now vilify Good, and her family was enriched with millions of dollars and given the thanks of a grateful military, as if she were taken while defending the nation.

What’s wrong with this picture? Literally everything.

What’s the difference between Renee Nicole Good and Ashli Babbitt and the way those on the hideous right choose to view the groundless murder of one against the killing of the other while engaged in a criminal act?

Pure, unadulterated fascism, and a callous indifference to reality.

• Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.