The Daily Fuckup

The Trump White House spent January 27 trying to clean up one of its ugliest recent public-relations failures after a fatal shooting in Minneapolis by federal agents set off a backlash that had already been building for days. President Donald Trump said he wanted a “very honorable and honest investigation” and told reporters he would be watching it himself, a conspicuous turn from the administration’s earlier posture of confidence and condemnation. That earlier posture had already been undercut by video of the encounter and by the growing gap between what top officials said and what the public could see. By the time Trump spoke, the story was no longer about just the shooting itself; it was about whether the administration had again outrun the facts and then had to reverse course once the evidence turned awkward. For a White House that likes to present itself as ruthlessly competent and in control, the optics were closer to panic management than strength.