Why Does Trump Hate Minnesota?
The Land of 10,000 Lakes defies Republicans' in-group vs. out-group worldview. So Trump is trying to crush it.
For close to a month, ICE and other federal agencies have occupied Minnesota, particularly Minneapolis. While Trump’s personal paramilitary is present throughout the country, there’s no denying that the Land of 10,000 Lakes has been the epicenter of immigration-coded state violence. ICE and Border Patrol race the wrong direction down one-way streets in unmarked vehicles, using surveillance technology to locate homes and cars owned by Latinos, Somalis, or any other ethnic-sounding surname, which the Supreme Court gave them permission to use as “reasonable grounds” for a stop. Victims are detained with unbelievable aggression and cruelty. Motorists are pulled through smashed windows and hogtied. Children are used to bait parents into arrests, then both are shipped to faraway concentration camps to suffer rape, starvation, medical neglect, overcrowding, and other Eighth Amendment violations. And that’s if they’re lucky.
Of the three murders committed in Minneapolis this year, the American government is responsible for two. After ICE agent Jonathan Ross killed Renee Nicole Good, J.D. Vance told agents they had “absolute immunity.” Taking the Vice President’s words to heart, CPB agents shot peaceful observer Alex Pretti ten times in the back. Not because they needed to, but because they wanted to. (ICE also killed Keith Porter Jr. in LA on New Year’s.) There is no law in Minnesota. And there is no order. There is only terror.
This leads us to ask, why Minnesota? The government’s supposed rationale for ICE and Border Patrol raids is immigration enforcement. Anyone with a functioning frontal lobe knows the true mission is to cleanse the country of non-White residents. But still, Minnesota isn’t the place to do that. Only 9% of Minnesotans are immigrants, far below the national foreign-born rate of 14.8%. If you rank each state by the percentage of its population that is foreign-born, Minnesota sits in the middle. It’s 78% White, much higher than most states, and the percentage of Black and Hispanic residents is far lower. Whether we accept the lie of enforcing immigration laws or recognize the Miller-Trump administration’s true nativist purpose, Minnesota is not the place Trump should be focused. There are many more immigrants elsewhere. So, why is Minnesota bearing the brunt of his hate?
The answer is simple. Trump, or rather Stephen Miller, who is de facto president at this point, is punishing Minnesota because it is an affront to their White ethno-nationalist project. On paper, Minnesota ‘should’ be a Trump state. More rural and more White than the national average, and surrounded by states that voted Republican in 2024, Trump thinks Minnesota should enthusiastically support him. He repeatedly claims he’s “won Minnesota three times,” despite it not casting its electoral college votes for a Republican in over half a century. By defying the conservative worldview of native-born White Americans pitted against foreign-born or minority Americans, Minnesotans threaten the Republican project. Not just with their whistles and patrols, but with their multiculturalism. In 2020, Minneapolis rose valiantly to oppose state violence against Black Americans, setting off a wave of Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Conservatives wanted Trump to send the military into Minneapolis and crush the civil rights protest with a heavy hand. But he didn’t, and they failed like they missed their opportunity to punish progressive Americans for daring to live in the 21st century. That resentment undoubtedly played a large role in the decision to concentrate ICE in Minneapolis, as revenge for imagined transgressions is the engine of American conservatism. The right’s “Us vs. Them” mantra is so pervasive and psychotic that the Minneapolis-born Secretary of Defense or War or Whatever has no problem publicly stating that ICE is greater than his home state.
As composer Frank Wilhoit masterfully articulated, “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” Minnesota angers conservatives because it should be in their right-wing in-group. The state's acceptance of immigrants, historic support for labor rights, and refusal to accept its place in the conservative hierarchy not only frustrates attempts to bind and otherize out-groups but also threatens the core of the conservative movement. It’s simple. Conservatism cannot thrive if those who ‘should’ support it oppose it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two Minnesotans killed by ICE were White. Fascists typically hold extra disdain for in-group members who defy them. When the Gaza Relief Flotilla was captured by the Israeli navy, anti-Zionist Jewish prisoners received harsher treatment than their gentile comrades. One Jewish volunteer recalled IDF guards mocking her Star of David necklace as a swastika. I imagine those guards felt similar to Jonathan Ross did after shooting Renee Good, calling her a “fucking bitch” as her bullet-riddled car careened down the street.
The right sees punishing Minneanopolis and bringing it to heel as necessary to the survival of 21st-century American fascism. However, the very same reason Republicans want to crush the People’s Democratic Republic of Minnesota is the same reason they cannot.
Once again, Minnesotans have risen to oppose state violence. As Eric Blanc’s Jacobin interview shows, many of the mutual aid networks and organizers who cut their teeth in 2020 have dusted off their community defense programs. Food delivery, civil disobedience, targeted boycotts, and even a general strike have been weapons in the arsenal of resistance. The White House’s greatest mistake was thinking that Minnesotans are as cowardly as they are. Minneanopolis is not the cradle of the 21st-century civil rights movement. It is the crucible in which the movement was forged. Centuries of police violence, state repression, militant labor action, and sub-zero temperatures have bred a culture of resistance, a population that grows bolder with every martyr the state makes.
On Monday, Trump blinked. Greg Bovino, the top Border Patrol agent overseeing the ICE/CBP operation, was reassigned out of Minnesota. That was a welcome development, won by Minnesotans' unflinching dedication to protecting their community. But a victorious battle should not be confused with winning the war. There are still thousands of federal agents in Minneanopolis, across Minnesota, and throughout the country. The tyrannical government 2nd Amendment-fetishizing ammosexuals warned about is in Minnesota. (And they are at home cheering it on.) New recruits and veterans alike are out for blood. They drink on the job, have “weird tattoos,” and celebrate after public executions.
Whether ICE remains concentrated in Minneanopolis or Miller and Trump deploy their blackshirts to an easier target is still unknown. But what is known is that this is far from over. Do not wait until ICE is in your city, killing your friends and disappearing your neighbors. Join the Democratic Socialists of America. At this moment, resistance is equally as political as physical. Buy a gas mask and welding gloves protect your hands from gas canisters. You may think that’s extreme, but suburban families are being gassed on their way home from basketball practice. Meet your neighbors and exchange contact information. You don’t want to be asking for their phone numbers as they’re pulled into an unmarked van. Learn how to operate a firearm. Labor unions have been on the front lines of the Minnesota resistance. Talk to your coworkers about unionizing. The occupation is coming to you. Prepare, organize, and remember, we keep us safe.
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In Solidarity - Joe
Excellent and well-researched, as always. Thanks, Joe.
Excellent post Joe!