Catholic Vice President Vance takes to social media to justify killing of Renee Good

There is no evidence that Good was in any way involved in domestic terrorism. Video evidence seems to entirely contradict Trump's explanation of the situation. The ICE officer does not appear to have been injured and is seen casually walking away after the shooting.

There does appear to be emerging video evidence that Good was confused by the orders she was receiving from multiple officers and was attempting to remove herself from the situation. There does not appear to be any concrete evidence of agitation and the videos do not show Good attempting to run down anyone with her car.

The investigation is ongoing, but the entire situation is a powder keg: Social media is on fire as users viciously debate the justification of the killing and it seems protests are beginning in Minneapolis and beyond.

But in spite of the increasing uproar, Vice President JD Vance said he sees the situation as "simple."

"Correct. You can accept that this woman's death is a tragedy while acknowledging it's a tragedy of her own making. Don't illegally interfere in federal law enforcement operations and try to run over our officers with your car. It's really that simple," Vance tweeted Jan. 7, responding to a retweet of video of the incident.

In the retweet with the video, Sohrab Ahmari said, "She actually makes contact with the officer in front of the vehicle," adding "this angle is definitive. He fired in self-defense after she made frontal contact." (The Associated Press reported Jan. 8 that it was "unclear from the videos whether the vehicle makes contact with the officer.")

Shortly thereafter, Vance tweeted a show of solidarity with ICE.

"I want every ICE officer to know that their president, vice president, and the entire administration stands behind them. To the radicals assaulting them, doxxing them, and threatening them: congratulations, we're going to work even harder to enforce the law," he posted.

At the time of publication of this piece, at no point has Vance tweeted any remorse, prayers or condolences regarding Good and her loved ones. Instead, Vance continued his storm of social media posts the morning after the shooting — this time leaning into divisive, tribalistic language to demonize Democrats.

In times past, a politician might offer thoughts and prayers, encourage those reacting to wait for the full results of the investigation and generally try to lower the temperature. A leader might take the opportunity provided by a fresh day to soothe the broken heart of a nation and appeal to the better angels among us.

JD Vance went in a different direction.

"Every congressional democrat and every democrat who's running for president should be asked a simple question: Do you think this officer was wrong in defending his life against a deranged leftist who tried to run him over? These people are going to try to arrest our law enforcement for doing their jobs. The least the media could do is ask them about it," said Vance the morning after the shooting.

But he didn’t stop there. A half an hour later, Vance responded to a former defense attorney’s social media assertion that "it is very clear that the officers instigated the confrontation. The woman initially tried to wave them past her."

"This is preposterous," Vance said. He continued:

First of all, she's not waving the officers through and has no right to do so even if she were. She is waving another car through, before the officers approach her car.

Second, the officers are not randomly searching her, they are approaching her vehicle because she is violating the law: namely, she is obstructing a lawful enforcement operation. You're not allowed to walk up to or drive up to people who are enforcing the law to make it harder for them to do their jobs.

Third, this defense attorney is drawing a meaningless distinction between an ICE officer and a "real police officer." Again, you're not allowed to interrupt a lawful enforcement operation, which is exactly what this woman was doing.

Fourth, the officer didn't discharge his weapon to prevent her from fleeing. When he discharged his weapon, she had pointed the vehicle at him and pressed the gas. He discharged his weapon in self defense, and other angles of the video show the woman *clearly* hit the officer with her car while accelerating.

The gaslighting is off the charts and I'm having none of it. This guy was doing his job. She tried to stop him from doing his job. When he approached her car, she tried to hit him.

A tragedy? Absolutely. But a tragedy that falls on this woman and all of the radicals who teach people that immigration is the one type of law that rioters are allowed to interfere with.

As a Catholic, Vance knows better than to peddle this brand of gaslighting and agitation. Vance knows that, by virtue of her humanity, Good was endowed with inherent dignity, made in the image and likeness of God. Vance knows that only God can take life. Vance knows that protesting, fleeing or even interfering in an ICE investigation (which there is no evidence that Good did) does not carry a death sentence. Vance knows that lying and killing are sins.

Vance knows. He doesn't care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.

The vice president's comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith. His repeated attempts to blame Good for her own death are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel. Our only recourse is to pray for his conversion of heart.