In the last six weeks, my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer and died within a month and I’ve been cleaning out my parents’ apartment. My dad, at 84, mostly blind and requiring a wheelchair, is struggling with heightened stages of grief in the nursing home room they were supposed to share.
During this time, content-wise, I’ve only watched the news. I don’t consume the news the way most people do: watching “one side or the other,” choosing confirmation bias to validate my opinions. I look at what are conservative versus liberal American journalists reporting, what are news outlets around the world reporting, what are the ratios in the comment sections of major news stories on social media, Reading the CNN and Fox versions of a story in addition to social media comment streams gives perspective on the pulse of opinions nationwide.
As my schedule of “normal life” would normally include making candles or creating miniatures for an upcoming show, being in my hometown Philadelphia area for the last six weeks handling my parents’ affairs, I’ve had a concentrated exposure to the news in Minneapolis and beyond as our government continues its transformation into the authoritarian regime/kleptocracy/dictatorship those who’ve voted against Trump have feared. Armed officers the right calls “federal law enforcement” despite their lack of experience or training and the left calls “thugs” because of their intentionally masked faces/disguise of identity perpetrate brutal abuse and murder of American citizens in American towns.
One thing that’s remained interesting to me since Trump was elected is seeing the point where those who once supported him are willing to “admit” they’ve changed their minds. For some, they voted for him the first time, didn’t like what they saw, and didn’t vote for him again. For others, January 6 was enough, and he lost their support. There are those who have stopped supporting him because he simply didn’t do what he said he was going to do: lower prices—instead he gives sarcastic, slurring speeches saying Democrats invented the word “affordability.” It’s impossible to trace (unless you look at the current record low approval ratings he constantly lies about) when exactly people began to refuse the Kool-Aid.
The rage-bait comments on social media are mainly AI bots. Comments by humans supporting the use of deadly force to kill peacefully protesting unarmed Americans are overwhelmed by those asking how people could support such violence. In the Alex Pretti killing, Trump, after getting his followers on board with disregarding an ever-rising number of constitutional amendments, broke new ground by adding a sudden disregard for the Second Amendment, causing even more loyalists to reconsider their previously blind support.
When the NRA comes out against the administration, it’s a wake-up call for even his formerly staunchest supporters. Though lines may have been drawn in the past with family members and friends who supported him, Minneapolis, with its freshly minted Bruce Springsteen song, provides another checkpoint in what increasingly feels like a moral Civil War. Family members or friends might wonder: How can you still support the felon pedophile who also uses taxpayer dollars to kill innocent American citizens? This Thanksgiving might be even more awkward than the more recent, friendlier “no Kings” holiday times. Like the critical mass that took my mother’s life so quickly, the point of no return may finally have arrived for the cancer of authoritarianism.
What’s happening in Minneapolis isn’t a misunderstanding or tragic fluke. It’s the predictable result of letting federal immigration agents operate with unchecked power and zero fear of real consequences. When armed ICE or Border Patrol officers kill people in American cities and the response is victim-blaming, stonewalling, gaslighting, federal agencies policing themselves and continuous lies, it’s clear this is no longer about immigration or enforcement. It’s a narrative of retribution for an election loss and power exercised without restraint. Communities are told to stay calm while constitutional protections disappear in front of them. The growing protests are not chaos or “riots,” but a rational response to a government that’s more interested in protecting its agents than the lives of its residents. Despite Trump’s false rhetoric, there’s no evidence any citizens have been “paid” to protest; they’re out there in freezing temperatures because this threat to democracy matters to people.
As Congress votes on whether ICE continues to receive full funding, lawmakers face a moment of moral clarity. Funding an agency that fuels fear, escalates violence, and evades accountability is a choice. Pretending otherwise is cowardice. Protecting the Constitution isn’t leftist extremism; it’s a demand from both parties that the government stop acting like it’s above its own laws and people.
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