January 27, 2026

After weeks of attacks on the citizens of Minnesota and the rule of law, there are signs that Donald Trump is ready to scale back — or at least make changes to — his assaults on the Twin Cities. 

Sadly, after all of the death and destruction, there will likely be no justice. Pam Bondi is still the attorney general. The Department of Homeland Security continues to be run by Kristi Noem. Both agencies — and indeed the entire federal government — are under the direct control of the White House.

Despite all of the hopes, what we are seeing is nothing more than a tactical pause, not a reconsideration of a failed policy. The damage Trump has done to the people of Minnesota and to our collective understanding of American democracy is incalculable. And it is certainly not over.

Trump does not distinguish between what is good for him and what constitutes good government. He rewards his friends and punishes his enemies. As long as it benefits him, he will excuse even the most egregious transgressions by his supporters while falsely vilifying his opponents.

A few weeks ago, it meant smearing a mother who was killed by federal agents, with stuffed animals in her glove compartment and her family dog in the back seat. More recently, it meant spreading vile lies about a man who was trying to protect a woman from being pepper-sprayed when he was tackled, beaten and shot 10 times by a gaggle of federal officers.

If the question that broke McCarthyism in the 1950s was "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” then Trump’s answer today would surely be, “No, none at all.” 

In that key exchange, McCarthy was accused of “reckless cruelty.” Yet, within Trump’s orbit, recklessness is a virtue. Cruelty is celebrated. 

Trump’s supporters like to suggest that he is a modern-day Caesar. In truth, he more closely resembles Caligula, the cruel sadist whose motto was oderint dum metuant — “Let them hate me, as long as they fear me.”

Caligula reigned over Rome for four years. We are only entering the second year of Trump's four-year term. His campaign of fear is not over. Indeed, it is likely to get much worse.

Trump has always used setbacks as opportunities to regroup and escalate. After he lost the 2020 election, he attacked the results in court. When that failed, he escalated to violence on Jan. 6.

Having been cast out of office, Trump did not moderate. He grew more strident and extreme. Indeed, one of the most notable aspects of his second term has been how much worse it was than the first.

He started his term by firing government workers. A year later, he is using the expanded workforce of government employees as a paramilitary force against our nation’s cities and their residents.

Of course, many large institutions of our society surrendered from the start. Large law firms forfeited their moral and ethical obligations to their clients and to the rule of law. Corporate titans debased themselves and betrayed their legacies. Legacy media outlets reduced themselves to cheerleaders and apologists for the administration.

Over the weekend, while government law enforcement was terrorizing the population of Minneapolis, the richest and most powerful men in the country feted Trump at a White House showing of a movie about his wife.

Having tamed the country’s most powerful elites, Trump must have thought that conquering the citizens of blue states would be easy. His sycophants no doubt assured him that liberals were weak and would never have the guts to stand up to him.

Yet, one by one, the citizens of these states proved him wrong. They stood tall. They showed resolve. And they refused to blink.

When he ordered the National Guard into Los Angeles, Trump no doubt thought he would soon run the place. When he went into Chicago, he fancied himself a liberator of a city under criminal siege. His plans for Portland assumed the citizenry would celebrate the order that federal troops would bring to the chaotic city.

All of these assumptions turned out to be wrong. After weeks of humiliation, he was looking for a way out. In December, when the Supreme Court ruled that his entire theory of deployment violated the law, he quietly retreated.

But none of this made Trump more cautious. Instead, his rage led him to take aim at Minnesota. And rather than using disciplined military forces, he turned to brutal paramilitaries instead. We all witnessed the horrors of what happened next.

Trump’s plan appears to have failed — for now. Greg Bovino has been deposed. But the danger has not passed. In fact, I fear that the worst is still ahead.

In 40 CE, Caligula marched his soldiers to the coast of modern-day France. His intent was to conquer Britain. When, for whatever reason, the invasion was called off, Caligula ordered his men to wage war on the sea and collect seashells as spoils of war. Early the next year, his rule was over.

Caligula’s reign did not end because he suddenly lost his appetite for domination. It ended because those around him finally refused to sustain his madness.

In the United States, the way we curtail an authoritarian leader is at the ballot box. Donald Trump has three more years in office. 

But we have elections in 10 months that will either curtail his power or expand it. For the sake of our democracy and its citizens, we need to do everything we can to remind people of Trump’s hate while ensuring that they can vote without fear.

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