There's only one undeniable truth about the Minneapolis ICE shooting... that neither side will admit. It's now miserably clear who has failed us: MAUREEN CALLAHAN

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What side are you on?

All of us were expected to have an absolute response in the moments after an ICE agent shot a woman dead on Wednesday.

Without any details, without any nuanced thought or critical questioning, without so much as a moment to take a breath and fully metabolize what's happening — without even knowing the names of the victim and the shooter — everyone from the President to cable news anchors to social media natives had knee-jerk, instantaneous, morally righteous verdicts.

All, as of Wednesday, based on one amateur video clip, taken from one angle, of a tragedy in which only one thing is clear: We are, as a nation, now doomed to a culture of escalation.

Escalation to conflict, to violence and to dead-certain interpretations that leave no room for nuance.

Critical thought, it seems, died long ago.

As did the concept of de-escalation: in politics, among law enforcement and among those of us who just hope to coexist in polite society.

So, on the right, within minutes of the shooting, the only conceivable explanation was that the ICE agent's actions were clean, by the book, and the only rational outcome of the left's open-border policies, sanctuary cities and inflammatory rhetoric.

All of us were expected to have an absolute response in the moments after an ICE agent shot a woman dead on Wednesday. Without any details, without any nuanced thought or critical questioning, without so much as a moment to breathe. (Pictured: Renee Nicole Good seconds before the shooting).

To those on the left, the instantaneous response was that Trump's America has devolved into everything these protestors are fighting against and this young mother's death is absolute proof that their side is correct — that the ICE agent, like the entirety of ICE, is racist, xenophobic and trigger-happy.

The only logical reaction — again, within minutes, hours and even days of this tragedy — is one of humility.

It's impossible to know the facts so quickly.

That this happened in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed and the BLM protests were born as the city burned, only amplifies this crisis.

Once upon a time, in the antediluvian epoch, leaders would seek to calm their populace rather than stoke. Think back to April 4, 1968, in the hours after Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated: Bobby Kennedy addressing black civil rights protestors at a rally in Indianapolis — a potentially explosive situation — and speaking for six minutes of anger, sorrow, outrage and the need for calm.

For unity.

He implored the crowd and the nation at large to 'dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.'

That speech is considered among the greatest of the 20th century.

Our current sorry lot of politicians and officials, on both sides, have failed us miserably.

President Trump, in the immediate aftermath, posted this to Truth Social: 'The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense… We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!'

By that afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had branded this case — the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old wife and mother of three, by ICE agent Jonathan Ross — an act of 'domestic terrorism'. Meaning that Good was the domestic terrorist.

We are, as a nation, now doomed to a culture of escalation. Escalation to conflict, to violence and to dead-certain interpretations that leave no room for nuance. Critical thought, it seems, died long ago.

By Wednesday afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (pictured) had branded this case an act of 'domestic terrorism'.

The left is no better. Jacob Frey (pictured), the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, held a press conference in which he was fairly shaking with what looked, to me, like performative righteous anger.

And here was border czar Tom Homan on Wednesday evening, sitting with Tony Dokoupil of CBS News, insisting that although the investigation had just begun, ICE agents are never in the wrong.

'I trust the men and women of ICE,' Homan said.

'You're telling me, you've never seen, in your tenure any example of excessive force… Zero issues, zero problems, zero comments?' Dokoupil asked. 'It's just not believable to a lot of people.'

'I have not seen ICE act outside of policy,' Homan said.

That kind of retrenchment is not only unhelpful — it sounds dishonest. A woman was shot in the face. Something clearly went wrong.

Yet Noem takes to her media pulpit, dressed in her best Texas cowgirl drag, to authoritatively declare that Good 'harassed' and 'attacked' ICE agents.

And Vice President JD Vance calls Good's death 'a tragedy of her own making'. How heartless.

The left is no better.

Jacob Frey, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, held a press conference in which he was fairly shaking with what looked, to me, like performative righteous anger.

To ICE, he said, 'get the f**k out of Minneapolis'. He also said the DHS claim of self-defense was 'garbage'.

Democratic Minnesota governor and failed VP candidate Tim Walz, doubtless grateful that eyes have been moved off the Somali fraud scandal, did much the same.

'Very, very difficult,' Walz said, to believe that a federal investigation will result in 'a fair outcome'.

If Walz and Frey want Minneapolis to burn twice, they're doing a superlative job.

As is Trump, who still refuses to correct his assertion that Good had actually run over the ICE agent — even after he was shown the video during an interview.

Is it any wonder the media and the general population follows suit? Is it any wonder everyone retreats to their political and ideological corners, so convinced that they are right?

Is it any wonder the media and the general population follows suit? Is it any wonder everyone retreats to their political and ideological corners, so convinced that they are right? (Pictured: ICE agent Jonathan Ross and his wife).

A little of what we've learned since Wednesday: Good was, in fact, part of a resistance group dedicated to disrupting ICE raids. She seemed to be trying to block ICE agents with her vehicle.

Good was approached by three agents, dressed in balaclavas, yelling at her to get out of her car.

Instead, she attempted to drive away.

Did she panic? Quite possibly.

What about the agent who shot her? We now know his name and some of his biography: Jonathan Ross, 43, is an Iraq War veteran who has worked for ICE for ten years.

His wife is a Filipina immigrant.

Last summer, he was seriously injured while trying to arrest an illegal immigrant during a traffic pullover, the suspect driving off while Ross's arm was stuck inside the car.

So, Ross very well may have PTSD. He very well may have been as afraid of Good as she may have been of him.

Why can't everyone take a beat and wait for details such as these?

Both sides here, for the most part, are composed of people who truly believe they're doing the right thing.

To acknowledge that would go a long way towards mitigating further violence.

Until then, we're only in for more — and it happened again, the very next night: US Border agents shot two people in Portland who, the feds say, are gang members.

They shouldn't be surprised that half the country won't believe that.