Two wildly varied reports of the same incident reflect the two Americas of our time

Such is the separation between these two realities that no pretence is given to even considering the other side or admitting “we don’t know yet”. Noem’s account was set in stone within hours, to be later endorsed and parroted by Trump and other administration officials. Frey, too, couldn’t have known the entire truth when he went on television and called Noem and co liars.

And such is the entrenched division that not even plentiful footage of the incident will be enough to settle the dispute over what occurred.

It seems clear that the driver was trying to leave the area. Whether she was trying to hit officers on her way through is highly debatable. There are many videos from numerous different angles, but the clearest one I’ve seen appears to show her pulling away at the moment the fatal shots were fired.

Noem said the agent involved was struck and taken to hospital, though quickly discharged. Trump’s claim upon watching the video that it was “hard to believe he is alive” is laughable.

Even if Good was trying to use her vehicle as a weapon, as claimed by Noem, one would expect trained officers to perhaps take out the tyres first – or simply get out of the way – rather than fatally shooting the driver.

Granted, people often act on instinct in the moment or misinterpret something, and tragedies can occur. That’s why you would think serious, responsible people would want an investigation before they jump to conclusions.

But that is not a feature of today’s America, where it is more important to prosecute the politics than nail the facts, and imperative to play the politics as hard as possible.

That is dangerous – especially in Minneapolis. It was there that African-American man George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in 2020, setting off months of protests in the city and nationally, in what became the Black Lives Matter movement.

The city and its police department worked hard in the aftermath to change policy and practice. But for many people, emotions from that time are still raw. Attitudes to law enforcement are hardened. Frey and Walz warned something like this could happen. It’s a tinderbox.

On the other hand, people such as Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, say that’s no reason to avoid enforcing the law. Indeed, they blame Democratic politicians in blue states for encouraging resistance to ICE – or what Miller called “lend[ing] aid and comfort to domestic terrorism”.

Plenty of Republicans, including Minnesota representatives, lined up to echo that sentiment on Wednesday (US time). Trump, too, said these incidents were happening “because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents”.

Demonstrations against ICE can be pretty intense – I’ve seen that first-hand in Los Angeles. We are not talking about a few thousand protesters marching peacefully down Main Street. This is in-your-face stuff, with people yelling, spitting, attacking and, yes, sometimes ramming ICE officers with vehicles.

Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma observed that ICE agents were not Disney villains. “They’re our neighbours, friends and loved ones,” he said on X. “[They] are red-blooded American patriots doing a tough job to keep our nation safe.”

And yet they frequently go about their work wearing masks and balaclavas, leading to frightening scenes where people are detained by unidentified people driving unmarked cars. And these are not always the murderers and rapists that Trump likes to focus on, but long-time community members who have jobs and raise families.

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So, there are two sides to every story. One might think an American citizen being shot dead by an ICE agent in a major city would be a moment to take stock and re-evaluate – from all perspectives – what the objectives are here and whether they are being worked towards in the right way.

But there is zero sign of that happening.