(The Chronicle of Philanthropy) — Any day now some Trump administration official will likely appear on television and solemnly tell the American public that “it became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

Those who know their history will remember that this twisted statement from a U.S. army major in 1968 played an important role in turning public opinion against the Vietnam War. The reaction for many people was something along the lines of, “I thought we were fighting for freedom, but what you just said sounds insane.”

About as insane as believing that ICE agents in Minneapolis killed Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti because they were terrorists.

This time, the town being destroyed isn’t a Vietnamese village, but an American city. And you don’t need to follow the singular reporting of intrepid journalists like Seymour Hersh to figure out what’s going on. You just need to watch the video of a heavily armed federal agent violently shoving a woman to the ground, and a man with a cell phone trying to help her, and for his good deeds, getting brutally beaten by a masked gang in official uniform, who then shoot him multiple times with guns paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

That man, Alex Pretti (SAY HIS NAME!), lived a life of good deeds. He was a nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital and an American patriot in a salute-the-flag-and-demonstrate-peacefully kind of way. Here he is reading a tribute to a deceased veteran who had been under his care: “Today we remember that freedom is not free. We have to work for it. Nurture it, protect it, and even sacrifice for it.”

Read more on The Chronicle of Philanthropy.