Samuel Damren
One year into his second term, Trump’s brand of American fascism is taking shape. The emergent point occurred with the ICE occupation of Minneapolis.
History teaches that attempts to establish nationalist right-wing authoritarian governments are individualized to the moment and context of the country at risk. America is no different.
The emerging Trump brand of fascism finds historical roots in America’s pervasive and violent racism. The toehold it gained on the present-day stage was through Trump’s hijacking of the “immigration question.”
There is nothing new in racism taking a prominent position in American political discourse. Nor is there anything new in the issue finding expression and controversy in political action. America began as a nation divided over the issue of the enslavement of black persons. The Civil War ended slavery. It did not resolve the underlying issue of racism.
The issue has remained ever divisive finding expression in Reconstruction and the backlash of Jim Crow laws, in the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan following its embrace by the movie “Birth of a Nation,” in the practice of racial segregation in schools, housing and public accommodation, and in strident and continuing opposition to Federal Civil Rights laws enacted in the 1960s.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that immigrants of color are “poisoning the blood of America” and that they must be expeditiously removed from our soil to “save the country.”
In his 2024 campaign, Trump promised MAGA faithful that he would begin this process with the “worst of the worst.” As his administration’s post-election conduct demonstrates that restriction was never part of the plan.
There is nothing here that is not already in the media, but this brings us to Minneapolis, which is pivotal.
History teaches that there comes a time when a would-be dictator concludes it is necessary to make a show of force against a select group or region of citizens who actively resist regime initiatives.
The moment only occurs when the question of dictatorship remains in the balance. There is a tri-part convergence that creates this moment.
First, the would-be dictator realizes that the regime is at risk of losing momentum from widespread resistance to initiatives that are not only central to the regime’s political existence, but also indispensable for the leader to rise to authoritarian power.
Second, the leader is confronted by a practical obstacle: He needs collaborators. The minority targeted for persecution is too great in number and enjoys significant regional and community support.
Party loyalists alone cannot accomplish the needed task.
Third, a show of force is necessary to gauge whether the resistance has the stomach and mettle to continue in the face of violent assault, conversely, whether other branches of government have the will to rein in the would-be dictator’s “shock troops.”
For Trump, the time and place for that show of force was Minneapolis December 2025. “Operation Metro Surge,” as it was coined, was the largest ICE occupation ever directed at an American city. The targeted minority veered away from Latinos who bore the brunt of recent ICE focus. It was Somali, a minority population that Trump has long railed against and that he described as “garbage” only a few days after the start of the ICE offensive.
The Minneapolis metropolitan region is 77 percent white, prosperous, and proud of its heritage. State Democrat elected officials were and continue to be under a cloud of scandal emanating from charges of alleged fraudulent misuse of federal funds.
If ever there was a time in a “blue” state where the Trump administration might hope to arouse the supposed silent majority’s animus against immigrants of color, it would be Minnesota December 2025.
Except, it didn’t turn out that way. Instead, Minnesotans viewed the ICE occupation as a federalized extension of the police brutality they had previously endured and thought had been addressed.
There was good reason for that perspective.
The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 resulted in not only the successful prosecution of Derek Chauvin on state charges of murder, it also resulted in two court-approved agreements to make transformational
changes to race-based policing in Minneapolis.
The first was with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The second was a Consent Order with the DOJ after a federal investigation identified a pattern of civil rights violations including unjustified deadly force and discrimination.
As a result, tens of thousands of Minnesotans marched and protested the ICE occupation. To save their community from a continuation of race-based policing, they confronted ICE agents with jeers and chants. The protestors filmed and videoed the events so that they could not be mischaracterized after the fact.
Two white Minnesotans participating in the resistance were murdered by federal immigration agents.
After she told an ICE agent “dude, I’m not mad at you,” Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot in the face by the agent. He had no reasonable fear for his life. Alex Pretti was summarily executed by two agents while lying prone on the ground handcuffed behind the back. He posed no danger to them whatsoever.
Good and Pretti will be remembered for their sacrifice in service of the liberty and equality of others. The Twin Cities will accordingly be recognized for that sacrifice as the “home of the brave” as well as for its steadfast resistance to Trump’s violent and racist ICE occupation.
Nobody knows where those events are going to lead.
In the days following the Minneapolis murders, Trump’s unrelenting and unapologetic racism has been on full display. He has been called out for his overnight tweets and defense of racist slurs as ranting “like a Klansman.”
ICE occupation of American cities will increase. ICE has leased operations offices in 150 cities with offensives to start in the spring and summer.
Immigrant detainees under ICE control continue to be held in 21st century versions of concentration camps far worse than the “internment camps” for American Japanese in World War II. And as history repeats, government detention is done without proof of criminal conduct by detainees, merely on the color of skin.
For Trump’s regime, eliminating continued resistance to his race-based immigration policy is existential. Resisters, in turn, brace for additional ICE “shock troops” invading communities across the nation.
There is an underlying thread to all this in our history: America’s long-standing pervasive and violent racism. The masks whether worn by Klansmen or ICE agents are emblematic.
The next commentary focuses on parallels and lessons from the rise of fascist powers during the 20th century.
History teaches that attempts to establish nationalist right-wing authoritarian governments are individualized to the moment and context of the country at risk. America is no different.
The emerging Trump brand of fascism finds historical roots in America’s pervasive and violent racism. The toehold it gained on the present-day stage was through Trump’s hijacking of the “immigration question.”
There is nothing new in racism taking a prominent position in American political discourse. Nor is there anything new in the issue finding expression and controversy in political action. America began as a nation divided over the issue of the enslavement of black persons. The Civil War ended slavery. It did not resolve the underlying issue of racism.
The issue has remained ever divisive finding expression in Reconstruction and the backlash of Jim Crow laws, in the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan following its embrace by the movie “Birth of a Nation,” in the practice of racial segregation in schools, housing and public accommodation, and in strident and continuing opposition to Federal Civil Rights laws enacted in the 1960s.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that immigrants of color are “poisoning the blood of America” and that they must be expeditiously removed from our soil to “save the country.”
In his 2024 campaign, Trump promised MAGA faithful that he would begin this process with the “worst of the worst.” As his administration’s post-election conduct demonstrates that restriction was never part of the plan.
There is nothing here that is not already in the media, but this brings us to Minneapolis, which is pivotal.
History teaches that there comes a time when a would-be dictator concludes it is necessary to make a show of force against a select group or region of citizens who actively resist regime initiatives.
The moment only occurs when the question of dictatorship remains in the balance. There is a tri-part convergence that creates this moment.
First, the would-be dictator realizes that the regime is at risk of losing momentum from widespread resistance to initiatives that are not only central to the regime’s political existence, but also indispensable for the leader to rise to authoritarian power.
Second, the leader is confronted by a practical obstacle: He needs collaborators. The minority targeted for persecution is too great in number and enjoys significant regional and community support.
Party loyalists alone cannot accomplish the needed task.
Third, a show of force is necessary to gauge whether the resistance has the stomach and mettle to continue in the face of violent assault, conversely, whether other branches of government have the will to rein in the would-be dictator’s “shock troops.”
For Trump, the time and place for that show of force was Minneapolis December 2025. “Operation Metro Surge,” as it was coined, was the largest ICE occupation ever directed at an American city. The targeted minority veered away from Latinos who bore the brunt of recent ICE focus. It was Somali, a minority population that Trump has long railed against and that he described as “garbage” only a few days after the start of the ICE offensive.
The Minneapolis metropolitan region is 77 percent white, prosperous, and proud of its heritage. State Democrat elected officials were and continue to be under a cloud of scandal emanating from charges of alleged fraudulent misuse of federal funds.
If ever there was a time in a “blue” state where the Trump administration might hope to arouse the supposed silent majority’s animus against immigrants of color, it would be Minnesota December 2025.
Except, it didn’t turn out that way. Instead, Minnesotans viewed the ICE occupation as a federalized extension of the police brutality they had previously endured and thought had been addressed.
There was good reason for that perspective.
The killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 resulted in not only the successful prosecution of Derek Chauvin on state charges of murder, it also resulted in two court-approved agreements to make transformational
changes to race-based policing in Minneapolis.
The first was with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The second was a Consent Order with the DOJ after a federal investigation identified a pattern of civil rights violations including unjustified deadly force and discrimination.
As a result, tens of thousands of Minnesotans marched and protested the ICE occupation. To save their community from a continuation of race-based policing, they confronted ICE agents with jeers and chants. The protestors filmed and videoed the events so that they could not be mischaracterized after the fact.
Two white Minnesotans participating in the resistance were murdered by federal immigration agents.
After she told an ICE agent “dude, I’m not mad at you,” Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot in the face by the agent. He had no reasonable fear for his life. Alex Pretti was summarily executed by two agents while lying prone on the ground handcuffed behind the back. He posed no danger to them whatsoever.
Good and Pretti will be remembered for their sacrifice in service of the liberty and equality of others. The Twin Cities will accordingly be recognized for that sacrifice as the “home of the brave” as well as for its steadfast resistance to Trump’s violent and racist ICE occupation.
Nobody knows where those events are going to lead.
In the days following the Minneapolis murders, Trump’s unrelenting and unapologetic racism has been on full display. He has been called out for his overnight tweets and defense of racist slurs as ranting “like a Klansman.”
ICE occupation of American cities will increase. ICE has leased operations offices in 150 cities with offensives to start in the spring and summer.
Immigrant detainees under ICE control continue to be held in 21st century versions of concentration camps far worse than the “internment camps” for American Japanese in World War II. And as history repeats, government detention is done without proof of criminal conduct by detainees, merely on the color of skin.
For Trump’s regime, eliminating continued resistance to his race-based immigration policy is existential. Resisters, in turn, brace for additional ICE “shock troops” invading communities across the nation.
There is an underlying thread to all this in our history: America’s long-standing pervasive and violent racism. The masks whether worn by Klansmen or ICE agents are emblematic.
The next commentary focuses on parallels and lessons from the rise of fascist powers during the 20th century.
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