Ex-Minnesota Governor and Pro Wrestler Jesse Ventura Slams 'Draft-Dodging' Trump's Use of Force After ICE Killing By Meredith Kile

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has strong thoughts about recent events in his state — and the response from President Donald Trump, whom he calls “the draft-dodging coward.”

Local news outlet FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul spoke with Ventura outside his alma mater, Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, on Thursday, Jan. 8, where he was remarkably candid about his feelings on the Trump administration deploying ICE agents to the city.

School at Roosevelt was canceled on Friday after Border Patrol agents reportedly “tackled several people and deployed chemical irritants” as students and teachers were leaving the building the day prior.

“I just came here today to show my support as a graduate of Roosevelt and tell them how proud I was of what they did, of keeping ICE off of this campus,” Ventura, a onetime pro wrestler, said. “This is a place of learning, and you learn. You learn things like the Constitution. You learn about warrants. You learn about things of that nature. And what we’re getting right now is violating all that, what kids are being taught.”

“We don’t need federal troops coming in here without warrants,” he continued. “Some people have said this undermines local law enforcement. It undermines the entire Constitution. The military cannot be turned loose unless it’s a national emergency. They’re going to tell me this is a national emergency.”

When asked if “they” was referring to Trump, Ventura interrupted. “Who was that? You mean the draft-dodging coward? I don’t call him by name.”

“He’s the draft-dodging coward who, when it was his time to serve his country, he did what all rich White boys did,” the 74-year-old continued. “I wasn’t a rich White boy. I grew up in South Minneapolis. Most of my friends are Vietnam veterans. We had to go. But the rich White boys never had to go, did they? And he didn’t have to go, did he? And yet he’s going to tell me what courage is.”

Ventura, an independent politician who served as governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, said Trump’s deployment of federal forces into multiple cities has turned the U.S. into “a third-world country.”

“I’m an expert. I been to them,” he said. “I spent 17 months in Southeast Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf.”

“You know how I know we’re a third-world country? Because in third-world countries, they have the military doing their police work in the cities… I was in the Philippines the day Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and went under dictatorship. We went from nobody to a guy with a machine gun on every corner. That’s what happens in a dictatorship. In comes the military. That’s what’s happening here, and people better wake up to it.”

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Ventura said that, despite previously being affiliated with the Reform and Green parties, he’s supportive of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, as they’ve spoken out against the ICE agents — especially following the shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7.

“Good for them and good for these people that stood up,” he said. “They’re teaching their students something that we are a country that we have to be a country of law and a country of the Constitution.”

He continued, “I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I view, after January 6, [2021], the Republican Party as a domestic enemy to our Constitution. I can’t get any bolder than that, can I?”

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While Ventura has previously said that he doesn’t plan to run for public office again, it seems his ire over the Trump administration might be enough to change his mind.

“Maybe it’s time for Jesse,” he mused. “I only did one term. I’m owed a second.”