The Left needs to set The Narrative™. 90% of what they do and say is about The Narrative™. It is about building a story that puts everything into the context that they need you to accept. 

"Nobody is above the law" turns into "assaulting federal agents is a First Amendment activity." 

The great insight of Critical Theory is that everything is persuasion, and power comes from persuasion in democratic societies. That is why the meaning of words always changes in a way to generate as much emotional impact as possible in the direction you want; facts don't matter, but emotional punch does. 

Critical Theory was the Marxist response to their perplexing failure to create revolutionary movements in advanced capitalist societies. Revolutions worked in places like Russia because they were, ironically, pre-capitalist, corrupt regimes, but not in the societies where they were SUPPOSED to, according to Marx. 

"This 37 year old woman drops her kid off at school. Not involved in protest activity or anything. Seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

- Adam Schiff, 48 hours ago https://t.co/esQgBntCSf pic.twitter.com/5NeRqcGF6Z

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 10, 2026

It turned out that capitalism didn't lead TO the immiseration of the masses, but rather AWAY from the dystopia Marx predicted. The proletariat, it turned out, did better and better over the years, and the proletariat actually became middle class. When the Soviet authorities screened The Grapes of Wrath in Russia for people, they thought it was great anti-capitalist propaganda; it turned out that average Soviet citizens were amazed that even dirt-poor Americans could afford a car, so the movie was pulled. 

SUBMITTED: Minneapolis school employees tell us these whistle packs are being handed out at every school in the district.

“We are directed to follow instructions in the flyer if we spot ICE near or in the school,” the tipster said. pic.twitter.com/OEnvOXsNuh

— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) January 15, 2026

Critical theory was developed as a way to get around this fact. It, along with the 'Long March Through the Institutions," which was the plan to take the West over from within by slowly taking over the cultural means of production, laid out a strategy to get around the "revolution" problem by convincing people that the West, and in particular America, really is a hellhole. 

OMG. Principal of Carmel High School in Indiana which staged a walkout to protest ICE, sent an email to staff explaining that he collaborated with the student organizer to give students who participated pre-arranged absences

Why is principal @Tim4Phares allowing kids to leave… https://t.co/cEvvZnGbTg pic.twitter.com/cJrgPIvtOv

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 22, 2026

You see the results today. Our schools, our universities, our media, and basically all the cultural means of production, with the exception of pockets here and there, are basically controlled by the Left, and they use that power to create a story about life in America and the West that is utterly at odds with reality. They define the heroes and villains, curate what you see and what you don't, tell you what is important and what is not, and as you have seen over the past few years, have done their best to silence alternative sources of information. 

? Helix Charter High School in California emailed parents encouraging student walkouts against immigration enforcement, framing Renee Good’s death as related to immigration enforcement rather than interference with federal law enforcement, while offering “guidance” & words of… pic.twitter.com/SfQnrpsreG

— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) January 19, 2026

The Alex Pretti affair is a perfect example of this phenomenon. 

Two million views for an AI generated picture that can’t get the US flag right. pic.twitter.com/q2nDCrbndN

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 29, 2026

The Left has, for weeks, created conditions where the Pretti shooting was inevitable. Not that particular shooting at that particular moment, but the constant violence, harassment, lies, ambushes, and the highly organized and sophisticated tactics used were all planned, and most of the people involved were trained to create viral moments that could be pushed out, buttressing the narrative that ICE is the "Gestapo." 

Stephen Colbert: “Don’t compare ICE to Nazis. That’s an unfair comparison. The Nazis were willing to show their faces.”

I just left Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, where I learned that Nazis buried Jewish babies alive by the thousands to avoid wasting bullets. pic.twitter.com/jEPfS5Z6HR

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) January 28, 2026

Pretti and Renee Good, as well, were both trained as instigators. I am not saying they wanted to be martyrs, but they were part of an organization designed to create martyrs. That is the whole point of the whistles, the shoving, the "dearresting," the threats of poisonings, assassination, the throwing of objects, the stalking, preventing sleep...everything is about creating an incendiary situation out of a simple attempt to arrest an illegal alien who is targeted for deportation because they are a felon. 

Why is the Senate putting up AI image on the floor pic.twitter.com/PyTIn8T0S2

— GaGirl? (@kim_strick34626) January 28, 2026

And when Pretti was shot, there was an immediate narrative being put out there, complete with photoshopped pictures of him on MSNOW, descriptions of him as "the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." An ICU nurse who never hurt a fly, gunned down for no other reason than he annoyed a Border Patrol agent. 

It's Hollywood, man! The perfect story. And a complete fiction.

In this clip, you can clearly see Pretti refusing to go to ground — just as he refused to do so when he was shot.

Congrats to @thenewsmovement and @BBCNews for their big scoop. pic.twitter.com/4ERcYqxpar

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) January 29, 2026

Only Pretti was not such a nice guy. In fact, in that earlier confrontation with ICE, it turns out that he taunted the federal agents to assault him, which may be one of the reasons they let him go despite committing multiple felonies in the earlier incident. Ironically, if they had arrested and charged him for spitting at an agent, damaging the car, and then resisting arrest, he likely would be alive today. 

"AssauIt me, Motherf*cker" - Alex Pretti

pic.twitter.com/daO8bGVJ7b

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 29, 2026

No doubt there are many people at protests who have no intention of getting in scuffles with agents, but almost everyone in the caravans that follow ICE has been trained to instigate violence. And I mean literally trained in techniques to do so. 

The official narrative has been that ICE is over-policing, but the new video shows ICE officers erred by under-policing. They should have detained Pretti, asked a judge to take away his gun, and impose a restraining order. Had that happened, Pretti might still be alive today. pic.twitter.com/DgNEIj6XmJ

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) January 29, 2026

In that earlier instance, as well as the one that got him shot, he was carrying a gun in his waistband. While he had a carry permit, it turns out that nobody is permitted to assault federal, state, or local law enforcement, or, for that matter, anybody else, while carrying a gun. He was not, in fact, legally carrying. He was not just stupid to be armed while assaulting officers and taunting them; he was committing a felony on top of all the others. 

Pretti has been canonized, almost literally, for being martyred. 

Warnock: Being at Pretti vigil site was like “standing on holy ground."

Un. Real. https://t.co/eTshxp738l pic.twitter.com/65UTFYFlF5

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 28, 2026

"Holy ground." Just as George Floyd Square is still a no-go zone to this day. It is "George Floyd Square," with a statue and rotting buildings. 

J6ers who did less than this were sent to federal prison for years. Further, the same corporate media types either ignoring or excusing this conduct described J6ers as domestic terrorists. https://t.co/M2yLGNq28u

— Julie Kelly ?? (@julie_kelly2) January 29, 2026

It is and always was about The Narrative. No matter which of the activists managed to get themselves killed, they would always be turned into the prettified martyr because that is the entire point of this exercise. George Floyd had fatal levels of fentanyl and meth in his system, had COVID, had just committed a crime and resisted arrest, and they turned him into a saint. 

Did George Floyd deserve to die? Of course not. But he created the conditions that made it almost inevitable. Pretti and Good did so intentionally, as part of a conspiracy to make it happen. Neither likely expected to die, but everybody in those mobs was baying for blood because they wanted to catch a viral moment to feed the "Gestapo" narrative. 

? Meredith Aby: By day, a teacher at Kennedy High School near Minneapolis.

By night, runs the Minnesota Anti-War Committee and operates as a leader of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

This is video #2 I’ve found of her rallying shock troops during school hours. pic.twitter.com/Td7rMZYrqQ

— NizNellie3 (@NizNellie3) January 27, 2026

There is an entire leftist library out there describing how to do this, why to do it this way, and why it is the only way to get the revolutionary change they have been trying to achieve for decades. 

Yesterday Jake Tapper described the first altercation that Alex Pretti had with ICE as Pretti just "blowing a whistle" and argued he wasn't an agitator for doing that.

Think Tapper will issue a correction now that video shows the truth? Of course not. pic.twitter.com/vnNYTOrgZC

— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 28, 2026

This is what an insurgency looks like in a democracy. The proletariat failed to do what they were supposed to, which was revolt. It turned out that life under capitalism was appealing to them, so the Marxists decided to find another way. 

This is the way. And with the entire cultural means of production at their disposal, they are doing pretty well by following their plans. 

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