Maybe It Is Possible to Be Too Visibly a Nazi for the Trump Administration?

Less than 24 hours ago, as I wrote about President Donald Trump’s evolving stance on the Border Patrol execution of American citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, I said the following:

The most absurd potential outcome of the last 48 hours, but not completely impossible, would be Trump pulling an abrupt about-face to actually condemn the shooting of Pretti and align himself more with public opinion, in the process throwing the likes of Gregory Bovino, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller and the Border Patrol agents collectively under a series of buses. It’s not something that I expect to happen, but again, this is Donald Trump we’re talking about here: The man does not hesitate to stab his own sycophants in the back whenever he feels like there’s some immediate gain to be had.

That hasn’t quite come to pass, but it all suddenly seems a hell of a lot closer than it did only a day prior. The death of Pretti, a seemingly saintly ICU nurse that the administration tried and completely failed to dig up opposition research to demonize, has clearly shaken Trump, spooked by the prospects of crushingly negative polling in the build-up to the 2026 midterm elections. Immigration, which had long been his strongest overall issue in polling, is where he’s now losing ground most rapidly. He needs desperately to stop every headline related to immigration from being the worst fucking thing you’ve ever read in your life. And that means he needs the most loudly evil and lie-embracing of his underlings out of the public eye. Which is to say: Bye bye, Mr. Nazi Coat, Gregory Bovino. Beyond his fascist-coded menswear preferences, the Border Patrol “Commander at Large” has repeatedly proven that he’s a messaging liability for the administration. As is so often the case, he finds himself shoved out of Trump’s favor because he tried entirely too hard to please the man by lying for him.

Reportedly, Gregory Bovino is leaving Minnesota today with a portion of his Border Control jackboots, to be replaced by the ever-so-kind-and-gentle leadership of “border Czar” Tom Homan. We can only assume that Trump is likely screeching at Homan that they desperately need to get back to immigration enforcement activity without coming into violent (and videotaped) conflict with American citizens. As for Gregory Bovino, what is actually happening to him per se is a little hard to confirm: The Atlantic first made the splash in this story by claiming that he had “lost his job” and would “return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon.” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins very amusingly reported that Bovino had even been stripped of his social media accounts access, which I can absolutely believe, given the way he personally waded into comments sections to argue with lawmakers in the wake of the Pretti shooting, and has had a long history of fighting random journalists on Twitter. It’s easy to see how the administration could look at his behavior and feel the cringe of it all, even if that’s something they’re typically incapable of doing.

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— Mike.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (@dumbmike.bsky.social) Jan 26, 2026 at 7:45 PM

At the same time, however, DHS spokespeople insisted Monday evening that Bovino “has NOT been relieved of his duties.” And the removal of his “Commander at Large” role is more or less meaningless, given that this was never actually a real job title in the first place. Bovino was merely a Border Patrol Sector Chief in El Centro, in Southern California, who was tapped for a more visible role as one of the public faces of the administration’s immigrant purge, probably because he was one of the most vociferous Trump boosters of the bunch. His Nazi affectations, presumably, were a bonus … until they got a little bit too much attention. Note that of course you can still be an ideological Nazi within Trump World all that you want, as the presence of Stephen Miller would attest. Nor is Bovino actually being punished in any kind of substantive way, here, merely relegated to his previous duties, where he will “continue to lead Customs and Border Patrol throughout and across the country,” according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. This move is purely an effort to get Bovino away from cameras and press conferences, where his presence had quickly become radioactive.

The obvious question is of course whether this is the start of a more pronounced series of purges, in classic Trump administration fashion. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem certainly seems to be on the hot seat, apparently called into a two hour meeting/haranguing session with Trump yesterday, while also being called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March. If she ends up getting sacked, are we possibly lucky enough that she’ll take Tricia McLaughlin down with her? Dare we dream that big?

There is still much to be wary about, in the wake of Pretti’s killing in Minneapolis and the now seemingly stalled ICE surge there. We’re still waiting to see if DHS will drop a doctored, AI-edited version of the Border Patrol agent body cam videos, for one. We also have to wonder, how will the next city invaded by DHS react, in comparison to Minneapolis? When they decide that Minnesota has too much bad press and instead focus on the next liberal bastion, will it succeed in drawing attention away from ICE’s killings? Or will the violence simply undergo metastasis wherever the thugs appear next? At the very least, there will be no Gregory Bovino press conferences to endure. That’s some small comfort.