PNN – The Guardian, noting that Trump’s behavior represents a form of fascism, wrote that the situation in Minneapolis is reminiscent of a civil war.
In an analysis, The Guardian wrote that Donald Trump spoke of an “American carnage” nine years ago in his first inaugural address. The US president has now effectively brought this about by deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents onto the streets of a major city to create a scene of terror reminiscent of a civil war.
According to the British newspaper, in the first year of Trump’s second presidential term, the deployment of immigration agents has targeted cities led by Democrats and often governed by Black officials, as if imposing collective punishment for their defiance.
David Smith wrote in the analysis that in this case Trump is borrowing from an authoritarian playbook reminiscent of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq targeting the Kurds, or Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader who caused the Holodomor, or “death by starvation,” in Ukraine. This is the same vengeful temperament that was seen last week when Trump lashed out at Canada and other NATO allies over perceived slights in Davos regarding his bid to seize Greenland.
According to the author, Trump appears to harbor a particular animosity toward Minnesota because he lost there in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections. He has recently made the false claim that he won all three elections in Minnesota. In fact, since Richard Nixon in 1972, no Republican, not even Ronald Reagan, has won there.
David Smith also added that, moreover, late in Trump’s first term, Minneapolis was the scene of the killing of Floyd, a Black man, by police. Floyd’s killing sparked the “Black Lives Matter” protests that spread as far as the gates of the White House. In those days, America felt feverish and fragile; this is another one of those moments.
Garet Graff, a journalist and historian, wrote this week on his blog titled “Doomsday Scenario”: “This is what fascism looks like; there is no clear boundary between democracy and autocracy. It is a spectrum, and not the entire country will experience this change at the same time or in the same way. But let us be clear: at present, an American city is under occupation by the fascist presidential secret police.”