Will Minneapolis Be Trump's Waterloo?

Or will it be the end of our Republic?

Image created by AI - Trump at Waterloo

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, is a convicted felon and is still under indictment in at least four additional cases, which have been delayed because of his current presidency. If he is no longer in office, he will likely spend his remaining days in court and quite possibly in prison. By flouting the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Emoluments Clause, Trump has increased his and his family’s wealth by nearly two billion dollars. Given this reality, Trump is unlikely to give up his “cash cow” because of an election. He knows he has no choice but to remain in office at any cost.

The only things threatening his dictatorial way of life and his financial empire are the midterm elections, his political enemies, and the resistance of a majority of the American people. His biggest and strongest enemy is the American people themselves, especially people of color and immigrants. To maintain power, he must eliminate, or at least control, the midterm elections, and the only way to do this is to intimidate and suppress those citizens most likely to vote against him en masse.

What better place to wage this battle than a heavily Democratic state he lost in 2024, one whose governor is among his staunchest critics and was his unsuccessful vice-presidential opponent, and which has a significant population of legal immigrants from Somalia, Mexico, India, Ethiopia, and Laos. This large nonwhite immigrant population has become Trump’s target for elimination, in much the same way Hitler targeted his so-called “Jewish enemy.”

Just as Hitler used his private army, the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Gestapo to control and intimidate the German populace in order to hold on to power, Trump has militarized and repurposed ICE to serve as his own private army. Once a credible organization tasked with the humane enforcement of immigration laws, ICE has become a terrorist organization staffed by untrained, racist dregs of society, many of whom are former members of right-wing extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.

After failing to gain a foothold in Los Angeles and Portland, Trump turned his attention to Minneapolis, sending in his private army under the pretense of an epidemic of welfare fraud allegedly perpetrated by Somali immigrants. It is deeply ironic that a president convicted of fraud is attacking and accusing, without a shred of evidence, a group of immigrants of the very same crime.

In his unprecedented, illegal, and unconstitutional invasion of Minnesota, Trump has met his match. He undoubtedly believed Minnesotans would roll over in compliance, just as the CEOs of major corporations and billionaire owners of media outlets like CBS did. Instead, he has faced massive and intense resistance from the people of Minneapolis in response to the cruel and illegal behavior of his ICE thugs.

Scenes of Gestapo-like tactics and brutality, with ICE agents smashing car windows, dragging drivers from their vehicles, and throwing them to the ground, culminated in the killing of an innocent woman returning home after dropping her children off at school. A video seen by millions around the world shows an ICE agent firing his gun point-blank into the woman’s face while holding his cell phone in his other hand, then calmly walking away and leaving her to die in her car. The murder of Renee Nicole Good revealed the nature of the government we now have under Donald Trump.

Within minutes of the killing, and without any investigation, HHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Vice President Vance accused Good of being a domestic terrorist who allegedly attempted to run over the agent. Trump and his administration have continued to demonize her and blame her for her own murder while praising the agent and the work of ICE. Despite video evidence from multiple angles clearly showing the agent shooting her without provocation, the administration continues to lie and cover up the incident. The DOJ has taken complete control of what has already become a sham investigation, denying Minnesota law enforcement agencies access to evidence from the scene.

In response to this horrific murder, Trump has doubled down by sending even more ICE agents into the Minneapolis area to intensify the intimidation and abuse of the people of Minnesota. A defiant Governor Tim Walz told Trump and Noem to end the occupation of his state, while simultaneously encouraging his constituents to remain strong and to protest peacefully.

Minnesotans, and people across the country, have strengthened their resolve to resist Trump’s attempts to incite chaos and violence so that he can declare martial law and cancel the midterm elections. Undoubtedly, Trump will continue to escalate the cruelty and violence of ICE agents in an effort to provoke violent responses from protesters. If Trump does declare martial law, we will enter uncharted territory. How will the citizens of Minneapolis react? Will Governor Walz call up the National Guard? Will the rest of the country respond as forcefully as Minnesota? Will the courts, including the Supreme Court, intervene? And what will happen if they do?

Because nothing like this has occurred, at least in my lifetime, I am at a loss as to how this occupation will end. Will it conclude peacefully or violently? One possible outcome is the defeat of Donald Trump at the hands of the American people and the justice system. The other is the complete destruction of our democracy at the hands of the Supreme Court. As an American, I am rooting for Minnesota.

Check out my newer publication, Stephen Sovie’s Blog, the Other Side of My World

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