Darkness Descends in Minneapolis
It is night in America, and the darkness is spreading quickly.
Those are the words of poet Joseph O’Neill describing the “unprecedented spectacle of democratic implosion” in the United States. The darkness has threatened countries like Greenland, Ukraine, and Canada.
That same darkness is terrorizing the innocent people of Minneapolis.
The horrific beating and murder of Alex Jeffrey Pretti by paramilitaries has shocked the world. He was killed following the brutal murder of Renee Good. His crime was stepping up to help a woman being attacked on the street by paramilitaries. Her crime was dropping her child off at school.
People who protested Good’s murder were attacked, and some were blinded by the paramilitaries. In response to widespread condemnation over ICE’s kidnapping of a five-year-old, paramilitary forces responded by seizing a two-year-old.
Governor Tim Walz has called out the National Guard to protect his citizens from the out-of-control violence. This represents a dangerous tipping point.
Perhaps MAGA will back off. Or, perhaps it will be the excuse for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. This would give him total power to use any military force he deems necessary against anyone he deems a threat.
Trump has already stated that he has the 11th Airborne Division on standby.
One would be naïve to think that ICE is simply running amuck. Their provocations have been cheered on and validated to the highest levels by federal law enforcement and the White House. It’s as if Trump is pushing the people of Minnesota to respond violently.
What is playing out on the streets of Minneapolis closely mirrors a recent game scenario by the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL). Claire Finkelstein, a national security law expert, wrote about the game in a recent Guardian article.
Former military, security, legal, and government officials were asked to consider scenarios that could unleash a 21st-century civil war. They focused on the possibility of the president launching widespread law enforcement actions in an American city that caused increasing levels of violence against the population.
If the violence became too provocative, the governor might be pressured into calling out the National Guard. In the game scenario, the president would respond by deploying active-duty soldiers to protect ICE. Once there is “green on green” shooting, the United States would be plunged into the opening round of a civil war.
Many of Trump’s supporters have long been calling for civil war against their perceived enemies. Malcom Nance, in his book They Want to Kill Americans, describes the longstanding violent agenda of MAGA in what he calls the Trump insurgency.
In a shooting match against the US army, the people would likely lose, and democracy crushed.
So what now?
Governor Walz could use his power as governor to rally the people to creative acts of resistance. The state could declare a day of mourning for the murdered nurse Alex Pretti. All shops and schools could be closed. This would be a powerful act of defiance to Washington.
An even more powerful symbol would be to hold a state funeral and invite church leaders, civic officials, and people from across the region to attend. This would create an incredible outpouring of people power that would defy the government.
If Governor Walz taps into the incredible solidarity and determination of the people of Minnesota, it could be a turning point for a very troubled nation.
We think back to moments like the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama. It was determined and creative resistance that finally overcame the power of state violence.
It is nighttime in America. But there are candles burning in Minnesota. The whole world is praying that those lights do not go out. It is time for the better angels of American judgment to step up.
While there is still time.
This is divide and conquer 101, it is the oldest playbook that exists. Hating those that are different appeals to our most base instincts. It is a pathetic tatic of predators without imagination.
The 1% wants everyone,—ICE, police, protestors, left, right, center highly activated and at each others' thoats (with the migrants caught in the middle) in order destroy America in a blaze of hated to achieve their 2030 goals of:
1) you will own nothing and be happy, AKA we will loot it all and you will like it or else
2) The USA will no longer be a super power AKA there will be nothing standing in our way of enslaving you.
Here is how they are doing this, we cannot allow it to continue:
Ten Ways the 1% Who Hate Us Are Manipulating Us Right Now
1) The first manipulation is the illusion of choice. You think you have two parties representing different visions for America but both parties are funded by the same billionaires, vote for the same surveillance bills, approve the same defense budgets, and serve the same corporate interests. The choice you are given is which color tie the puppet wears, not who controls the strings.
2) The second manipulation is emotional hijacking. The news does not inform you, it activates you. Every story is framed to trigger fear or anger or disgust because those emotions bypass your rational thinking and make you easier to control. You are not watching journalism. You are being subjected to psychological operations designed to keep you in a constant state of agitation.
3) The third manipulation is tribal sorting. The algorithm learns what makes you angry and feeds you more of it until your entire worldview is shaped by outrage at the other side. You are sorted into a tribe not because you chose it but because keeping you tribal keeps you predictable and profitable.
4) The fourth manipulation is false scarcity. You are told resources are limited and the other tribe is taking what belongs to you. Immigrants are stealing your jobs. Welfare recipients are draining your taxes. The other party is destroying your healthcare. Meanwhile the billionaire class has more wealth than any humans in history and could solve most of these problems tomorrow if they wanted to.
5) The fifth manipulation is memory holing. Stories that threaten powerful interests get buried or forgotten within days. Exposed crimes result in no consequences. Historical context that would help you understand the present is never taught. You are kept in a perpetual present with no past to learn from and no future to plan for.
6) The sixth manipulation is controlled opposition. The voices you think are fighting for you are often funded by the same interests they pretend to oppose. The outrage merchant on your side of the aisle is playing a character designed to keep you engaged and angry and tuned in while nothing ever actually changes.
7) The seventh manipulation is the Overton window. The range of acceptable opinion is artificially narrowed so that anything outside it seems extreme. Ideas that were mainstream fifty years ago are now treated as radical. Ideas that serve elite interests are treated as moderate common sense. You are not choosing your beliefs from the full range of human thought. You are choosing from a menu they wrote.
8) The eighth manipulation is learned helplessness. You are shown so many problems with no solutions that you eventually give up and accept that nothing can change. This is intentional. A population that believes resistance is futile does not resist. They scroll and complain and feel superior for understanding how bad things are while doing absolutely nothing about it.
9) The ninth manipulation is identity capture. Your political affiliation becomes your identity, and any attack on your party feels like an attack on you personally. This makes you defend politicians and policies that harm you because admitting they are wrong would mean admitting you were wrong, and your ego will not allow that.
10) The tenth manipulation is the most insidious of all: you are manipulated into believing you are too smart to be manipulated. Every person reading this thinks the manipulations I described apply to other people, the stupid people, the brainwashed people on the other side. That certainty is itself a manipulation. The moment you believe you are immune is the moment you become most vulnerable
I love this analysis Charlie. I am a just a senior Canadian citizen trying to figure out what is behind tRump’s aggression and it matches your analysis. I believe this is preplanned to facilitate the invocation of the Insurrection Act. I also love your recommendation for counter measures. Brilliant!🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🙏