Is this the darkest period of Donald Trump’s second term?

The White House's tone might be softening after outrage about the Minnesota ICE shootings, but there's no reason to expect a policy shift

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Has the US entered the darkest period of Donald Trump's second term? It certainly feels like it. The Trump administration's cruel obsession with immigration had already yielded imprisonments, deaths and deportations, but the recent trend of immigration agents gunning down US citizens in the streets surely represents a painful new step.

The government's immediate reaction to the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed less than three weeks apart in Minneapolis, have only intensified the air of menace.