The Trumpists will continue to escalate. But in Minneapolis, we can see the limits of MAGA’s assault.
Trump’s authoritarian desires are limitless. But his ability to impose them on America is not.
Some thoughts from my new piece for Zeit Online (gift link):
https://www.zeit.de/digital/2026-01/us-regierung-maga-widerstand-ice-donald-trump?freebie=ab9d76f6
Forget all the nonsense about Trump “pivoting” to moderation. The regime will continue to escalate.
But the thing is: In Minneapolis, people are holding the line. And the Trumpists have no effective strategy to consolidate authoritarian rule in the face of sustained resistance.
The “Where are the protests?” lament after Trump’s inauguration was always based on a (willful) misperception. Over the past year, protests have been far more numerous, more geographically widespread, and more sustained than what we saw in 2017, for instance.
And “protest,” in a narrow sense, isn’t even the right term for what we are seeing now. Crucially, in reaction to the regime sending an occupation force of masked goons, a new form of resistance emerged: Communities organizing to help their neighbors, confrontational but peaceful.
ICE/CBP want to terrify people into submission and compliance so that they can operate with impunity, unimpeded, in semi-secrecy. It is not working. In every urban center these masked goons descend upon, the local community is rallying in solidarity.
What the regime is doing in Minneapolis is extremely unpopular. While Trump and the extremists around him may think they can ignore public opinion, they are mistaken. Even the most staunchly authoritarian regime will ultimately be affected by its public standing.
The idea that protests and public opinion are meaningless in the face of the Trumpist assault, that authoritarian regimes are impervious to public pressure, is still widespread. But it is wrong. And it perpetuates the regime's assertion of inevitability.
