I’ll be covering the midterms to help you understand the political forces shaping the race—and how you can make a difference, from which campaigns to support to how to talk to friends and family about voting Democratic. Subscribe to get every post delivered straight to your inbox. In a world where much of the corporate media is owned by pro-Trump billionaires, becoming a paid subscriber is a way to support independent, progressive media. This is one of those rare moments when everyone is paying attention to the same thing. If you open social media or throw on a podcast, even influencers and hosts who assiduously avoid politics are talking about what happened in Minnesota. Celebrities and athletes who stopped posting about politics after 2020 are once again using their platforms. Polling conducted over the last few days shows that three-quarters of Americans have seen some or all of the video of the murder of Alex Pretti. Numbers like these are stunning in our highly disaggregated media environment, where consumers are increasingly served only the content algorithms curate for them. It’s unlikely this attention fades anytime soon. Barring a legislative miracle, much of the federal government will shut down on Friday because Republicans are unwilling to rein in Trump’s out-of-control deportation force. You can’t persuade people without their attention—and getting people’s attention is the hardest thing to do in politics right now. Well, we have it. If your experience is anything like mine, your less-political friends and family are talking about Minnesota and ICE. It’s coming up organically at school pickup and at work. People who have never posted about politics before are sharing content about the killings. This is a rare opportunity to reach people who have checked out of politics in recent years—or who broke with Democrats and voted for Trump in 2024 out of frustration with Biden and rising costs—and help them understand the damage being done to the country. Here’s my best advice on how to talk about Minnesota, ICE, and where we go from here, based on experience and internal polling circulating among Democratic operatives and elected officials. Message Box exists to help you talk to the people in your life — from your MAGA-curious uncle to your apathetic cousin — about politics and the news. If you find this post helpful, please share it far and wide. These sorts of posts will always be free to everyone. If you want to support this work, please become a paid subscriber 1. State of PlayJust to provide some context for how Americans are interpreting the events of recent weeks:
This polling tells us two important things. First, immigration is no longer an issue Democrats should fear engaging on. What was once Trump’s silver bullet is on the verge of becoming his Achilles’ heel. Second, our persuasion targets start from a place of skepticism about Democrats generally—and, in particular, about immigration. 2. Focus on What People Don’t LikeHere are arguments that resonate across the political spectrum:
3. The Wrong PrioritiesAnother argument that tests extremely well is explaining where all the money for ICE comes from. I don’t think people have fully internalized how much we are spending on immigration enforcement. As Caitlin Dickerson wrote in The Atlantic:
That is fucking bananas. Especially at a time when we’re cutting funding for health care, cancer research, education, and nearly everything else—while boosting ICE, the military, and tax cuts for billionaires. Messages that link ICE’s ballooning budget to cuts in health care and other priorities are incredibly persuasive. More Democrats should be making this case, as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does in this video.  Why are your Obamacare premiums going up? ICE. Why is the rural hospital in your town closing? ICE. Why can’t people get health care or food assistance? Because we’re deploying thousands of heavily armed, poorly trained agents to terrorize American communities. 4. What We Would Do DifferentlyThe MAGA message is that there are only two options: what we’re seeing in Minnesota or no immigration enforcement at all. That’s obviously absurd. There is a broader conversation to be had about what Democrats would do in power—whether ICE should be fundamentally restructured, relocated, or replaced. But if pressed on what Democrats would do right now, here are reforms that are both substantively sound and broadly popular:
These are basic, common-sense guardrails—many supported by law-enforcement professionals themselves. Trump and Republicans are rejecting them because they want ICE to remain unaccountable and above the law. People are paying attention. Theier minds are open. They don’t like what they are seeing. This is a moment where we can convince them that there is a better way forward. You're currently a free subscriber to The Message Box. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Thursday, January 29, 2026
How to Talk About Minnesota and ICE
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