What’s going on in Minneapolis right now — and less dramatically across the rest of the country — is the very face of the Trump Administration. This is exactly who these people are.
Masked men in fatigues carrying overpowered weapons dragging people from their cars. Demanding to see their papers like Gestapo agents at German train stations. And now the FBI, which has become the muscle employed by Trump, has searched a reporter’s home and seized her devices under the guise of investigating leaked government secrets.
This last bit is especially ironic as Trump himself improperly took top secret documents when he left the White House and stashed them in a bathroom at Mar a lago. And this is the same administration in which Pete Hegseth inadvertently shared military secrets with an Atlantic editor and used an insecure app to chat about attack plans.
This is an administration filled with incompetent bunglers who like to push their weight around. Literal or figurative muscle making up for intellect.
Or trying to. I have some faith in the American people. I haven’t seen polling on this yet, but I have a hunch that all of this is turning off large numbers of voters. They’ve already been turning away from the Republicans over affordability issues, but I have to believe that all these scenes on their news feeds have to offend their basic sense of decency.
It’s one thing to secure the border. Democrats didn’t and paid the price for it. It’s one thing to deport violent criminals who are in the country illegally. People will support that too. But harassing people on the street just because they look different? Rounding up hard-working people who are doing necessary jobs and paying taxes just because they’re here illegally? I don’t think most Americans are buying into that.
One of the great disappointments of recent years is how few Americans seemed to care much about democracy and about the norms of behavior that held our country together. Maybe this latest blatant overreach will turn that around. We’ll see.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
Well put, Dave.
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“I have to believe that all these scenes on their news feeds has to offend their basic sense of decency.”
I don’t share your optimism. If “grab them by their &$@“ and covering up for pedophiles hasn’t already offended their basic sense of decency, nothing will. The cruelty is the point – there are many, many people who want to see “them” be abused so long as “them” isn’t “me.” In fact, they’ll gladly accept getting screwed over themselves so long as someone they don’t like is getting it worse. (See the famous LBJ quote about the tool of racism). But, I do believe that this may provide some non-voters with a reason to vote. All the folks who see Ds and Rs as the same are getting a reality check if they open their eyes.
While some cling to the idea that we’re a nation of laws, others are reminding us that we are a nation of violence. Laws are for the country that we were supposed to aspire to be. Violence is for the country that we have been and are. This is why some are supportive of a broad interpretation of the 2nd Amendment; belief that when push comes to shove, it’s not laws that protect us, but violence. That we shouldn’t wait around for someone to step in and save us.
This is even more apparent when it’s the government performing the violence. There’s nobody to call for help. Very little of what ICE is doing is for a legitimate law enforcement objective, immigration enforcement is just a broad pretext. Trump clearly told us what he wanted to do, and it’s exactly what ICE is doing: terrorize “the left.”
Some are waiting for the courts and civil society to win out. Because I am also non-violent, I am too. Unfortunately, the courts are not well designed to help in this type of situation. History has shown us what happens to non-violent people in the face of government-sponsored violence. A lot of them end up getting hurt and killed while we organize democratically to ensure that justice and reason eventually prevails.
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