Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura Trashes Trump, Threatens to Run for Governor Again After Minneapolis ICE Shooting

Jesse Ventura shared his thoughts about the ICE shooting in Minneapolis and a confrontation between ICE officers and staff at Roosevelt High School on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/QWML36MY3H

— FOX 9 (@FOX9) January 8, 2026

Jesse “The Body” Ventura trashed President Donald Trump as a “draft-dodging coward” and threatened a potential return to the Minnesota governor’s office following the shooting of a 37-year-old mother by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

Ventura, 74, spoke with local affiliate Fox 9 this week during a visit to Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. Ventura graduated from the school and visited to condemn an ICE raid that took place there on the same day that Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent.

“Freedom is not arresting people without warrants. We have a system here, it’s called a Constitution. And we have a party, the Republicans. Who don’t seem to want to abide by the Constitution. January 6 is a prime example of that. And now they’re all free, and they’re in charge. You know what? Maybe it’s time for Jesse — I only did one term — I’m owed a second,” Ventura told reporters on Thursday.

Ventura is a Vietnam War veteran, longtime wrestler, actor, and conspiracy theorist who served as Minnesota’s governor from 1999-2003. Ventura ran under the Reform Party, but eventually switched to the Minnesota Independence Party during his term.

The Predator star blasted both Republicans and Democrats, but called the former “a domestic enemy to our Constitution.”

He went on to dismiss Trump as a “draft-dodging coward,” refusing to use his name. He also claimed ICE deployments to various cities only confirms the United States is now a “third-world country” under the current president.

“I spent 17 months in Southeast Asia while the draft dodger was playing golf, right? 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 when you walk around,” Ventura said.

He argued Minnesota does not need federal officers in the state and said he supports the pushback Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and others in the state have given Trump’s administration over ICE and Good’s shooting.

“You mean the draft dodging coward?” Ventura said when a reporter mentioned Trump. “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. I wasn’t a rich white boy. I grew up in South Minneapolis. Most of me and all my friends are Vietnam veterans. We had to go. But the rich white boys never had to go.”

Ventura again teased another run for governor of Minnesota.

“Here I was leading a nice quiet life and now you’ve injected me back in here and probably gonna make me the governor of Minnesota again,” he said.

Watch above via Fox 9.