Trump Is on the Verge of Unleashing the State Violence He Has Always Wanted

Regrets of 2020: When Safeguards Were Still in Place

2020. George Floyd is killed by police in Minneapolis. Protests erupt across the country. Right in front of the White House, too. One evening, Trump is evacuated to the presidential bunker. It drives him crazy. It projects an image of weakness. He wants to strike hard. He wants to deploy the military against the protesters. But members of his administration resist. Mark Esper, his Secretary of Defense, opposes him. Others do too. They tell him no. They remind him of the limits. The laws. The Constitution. Trump is frustrated. Enraged. He fires Esper a few months later. But at that moment, the safeguards hold. Barely. But they hold. Trump doesn’t get what he wants. He has to swallow his rage. And he doesn’t forget that. Ever.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump and his allies talk about immigration. They promise to toughen the laws. To deport undocumented immigrants. They insist: we’re going to target criminals. People known to law enforcement. Those who can be arrested quickly. That’s the rhetoric. The promise. But once in power, in January 2025, everything changes. The raids don’t just target criminals. They target everyone. Anyone. ICE agents have free rein. They can arrest whoever they want. Detain whoever they want. And anyone who gets in their way… well, we’ve seen what happens. Trump returned to Washington in 2025 even angrier than he was in 2020. More determined. More dangerous. And this time, he’s filled his Cabinet with people who won’t stand in his way. People who will say yes. Always yes.

Remember when we were told that the institutions would hold? That the checks and balances would protect democracy? That even if Trump wanted to do horrible things, there would always be someone to say no? Well, look at it now. Look at 2026. There’s no one left to say no. No more Mark Esper. No more internal resistance. Just people who nod in agreement. Who obey. Who carry out orders. Trump has learned from 2020. He’s learned to fire those who oppose him. To surround himself with loyalists. And now, he has what he’s always wanted: absolute power. Without limits. Without checks and balances.

The Obsession with the Insurrection Act: A Fantasy Come True

The Insurrection Act. A law from 1807. More than two centuries old. It allows the president to deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil to suppress civil unrest. It has been used rarely. Very rarely. Because it’s an extreme measure. Because it means sending soldiers against citizens. But Trump has been dreaming of it since 2020. He wanted to invoke it during the George Floyd protests. He couldn’t. Now he can. And he’s threatening to do so. On January 15, 2026, on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he would “invoke the INSURRECTION ACT, as many presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the tragedy unfolding in this once-great state.” ” The tragedy. What tragedy? The protesters demonstrating against the death of Renee Good? The citizens who say that killing a mother of three is unacceptable?

On Fox News, Trump’s statement is accompanied by images of protesters being targeted by federal agents. Smoke drifting through the streets. Flash-bang explosions. Scenes of chaos. Host Steve Doocy looks at the footage and says, “I’m watching these images from Minneapolis, and I’m thinking, ‘Man, something is really messed up over there!’ And obviously, the president is watching the same things.” Do you see the sleight of hand? The administration sends in federal agents. These agents create chaos. They fire tear gas. They throw flash-bangs. They kill citizens. And then Trump watches the footage of the chaos HE CREATED and says, “Look at this mess! I have to send in the military!” It’s brilliant. It’s terrifying. It’s calculated.

I’m going to be honest with you. I’m scared. Really scared. Because I can see exactly where this is headed. Trump creates chaos. He sends in agents who beat people, who use tear gas, who kill. People protest. Of course they protest. And Trump uses those protests as a pretext to send in the military. To invoke the Insurrection Act. To deploy soldiers onto American streets. Against American citizens. And once he’s done that in Minneapolis, what’s to stop him from doing it elsewhere? In Chicago? In Los Angeles? In New York? Nowhere. Nothing will stop him. Because there are no more checks and balances. No more limits. Just one man with immense power and an obsession with state violence.

Step 1: Threaten Democratic Cities

The strategy is crystal clear. First, issue threats. Tom Homan puts it plainly: cooperate, or we’ll flood your streets. Give us access to your jails, or we’ll descend in force. This isn’t a negotiation. It’s an ultimatum. Democratic cities—the “sanctuary cities”—refuse. They say no. They protect their residents. They refuse to turn their police officers into immigration agents. So Trump and Homan keep their promise. They send in the troops. 2,000 federal agents to Minneapolis. Hundreds to Chicago before that. In Los Angeles, too. They’re “flooding the area.” Exactly as promised. And these agents have no limits. No constraints. They can do whatever they want. Arrest whoever they want. Detain whoever they want. Shoot whoever they want.

And when someone dies, like Renee Good, the administration doesn’t apologize. It doesn’t conduct an independent investigation. It defends the shooter. It invokes “federal immunity.” It says it was necessary. Justified. Even before the footage is made public. Even before we know what really happened. The defense is automatic. Total. And ICE agents know this. They know they can do anything. That they’ll be protected. That they’ll never be held accountable. So they become more aggressive. More violent. They use Renee’s death as a warning. “Back off, or you’ll end up like her.” It’s not an empty threat. It’s a promise.

Imagine for a second that you live in Minneapolis. That you’re a parent. That you have children. And that one morning, you learn that a mother was killed on her way home from school. Killed by the government. By federal agents. And that no one will be punished. That the government says it was justified. That the agents can keep going. That they have “immunity.” How do you feel? Safe? Protected? Or terrified? Because if it can happen to Renee, it can happen to anyone. To you. To your neighbors. To your friends. To your children. That’s what state terror is. That’s the goal. To scare you. To silence you. To make you obey.

Step 2: Spark Resistance

Communities don’t stand idly by. They organize. They create warning networks. They alert each other when ICE arrives. They come together to protect their neighbors. They demonstrate. They protest. They say no. And that’s exactly what Trump wants. Because every demonstration, every confrontation, every moment of resistance becomes a pretext. Federal agents respond with violence. Tear gas. Pepper spray. Flash-bangs. Explosions in the streets. Smoke everywhere. Scenes of chaos. And Fox News films it all. They show the explosions. The smoke. The disorder. But they don’t show WHO is creating this chaos. They don’t show the federal agents throwing the grenades. Firing the tear gas. Provoking the violence. They just show the result. And they say, “Look at this mess! Look at this anarchy! Something must be done!”

And Trump watches. He waits. He lets the situation escalate. He lets his agents create chaos. And then, at just the right moment, he steps in. He tweets. He threatens. He says he’s going to invoke the Insurrection Act. That he’s going to send in the military. To “restore order.” To “protect citizens.” But protect them from what? From whom? From the demonstrators protesting the death of an American citizen? From the people who say that killing a mother of three is unacceptable? No. He wants to protect his agents. He wants to protect his power. He wants to crush dissent. And he uses the chaos he himself created as a justification.

It’s Machiavellian genius. Really. You create the problem. You provoke the reaction. And then you use that reaction to justify even more violence. It’s a vicious cycle. A spiral. And once it starts, it doesn’t stop. Because each escalation justifies the next. Every act of violence begets more violence. And in the end, you have soldiers in the streets. Tanks. Curfews. A state of emergency. Martial law. All because a mother was killed on her way home from school. All because people dared to say it was wrong.

Step 3: Invoke the Insurrection Act

And now, here we are. January 15, 2026. Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act. He has everything he needs: chaos in the streets; images of violence; protests; confrontations. He has created the perfect pretext. And he has the support of his allies. On Fox News, Trey Gowdy, a former Republican member of Congress, says: “I think we may have passed that point in Minnesota. You have governors and mayors who are openly defying federal law enforcement. They’re openly defying them. So I think he has every justification.” Trey Gowdy. The same Trey Gowdy who, in 2010, during the Tea Party wave, denounced abuses by the federal government. Who defended states’ rights. Who opposed federal interference. Now he says Trump has “every justification” to send in the military. Because it’s Trump. Because he’s on his side. Principles? Forgotten. State rights? Forgotten. All that matters is power.

Trump now has both the circumstances AND the complacency he needs to do what he’s always wanted. To deploy the military against American citizens. To use military force to crush dissent. To turn American streets into war zones. And no one is going to stop him. Not his Cabinet. Not the Republican Congress. Not Fox News. No one. He’s spent four years learning how power works. Identifying obstacles. Eliminating them. Surrounding himself with loyalists. And now, he has what he wanted. Absolute power. Unlimited. Unchecked. And he’s going to use it.

Here we are. The moment we dreaded. The moment when an American president decides that the military can be used against the American people. When soldiers can be deployed to the streets to shoot at protesters. When state violence becomes the norm. And you know what’s most terrifying? It’s that half the country will cheer. They’ll say it was necessary. That the protesters had it coming. That Trump had no choice. They’ll justify the unjustifiable. They’ll normalize the unspeakable. And once it’s normalized—once the military in the streets has become acceptable—what do we have left? What protects us? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Renee Nicole Good: A Life, Not a Number

Renee Nicole Good. 37 years old. Born in Colorado. Mother of three children: ages 15, 12, and 6. Poet. Writer. Devout Christian. She had participated in humanitarian missions in Northern Ireland when she was young. She loved to sing. She had studied vocal performance in college. She earned a degree in English from Old Dominion University in 2020. She won the American Academy of Poets’ poetry prize that same year. Her professor, Kent Wascom, remembers her. “Many young writers write about themselves,” he says. “But Renee wrote about others. About the elderly. About people from other places. About circumstances different from her own.” She had empathy. Compassion. She saw others. She understood them.

She’d had a difficult life. Her second husband, Tim Macklin, a military veteran, had died in 2023. She was raising her three children on her own. She had moved to Minneapolis in 2025 to start over. To build something new. Her house still had Christmas decorations on the porch. Neighbors remember her children’s chalk drawings on the sidewalk last summer—butterflies, suns, and “I love you, Mom.” A neighbor, Kimmy Hull, says, “She was a much-loved member of the community.” Another neighbor recalls that Renee’s son would sometimes ask to pet their dog. Clark Hoelscher, a neighbor who is also a teacher, cried as he spoke about her. “I’m a parent. I’ve helped raise five children. I have two children of my own. I can’t imagine them coming home and their mom not being there anymore.”

Do you want to know what sticks with me about this story? One detail. Just one. Renee’s 6-year-old son. On the morning of January 7, she dropped him off at school. She said goodbye to him. She might have given him a kiss. She told him she’d come pick him up later. And she never came back. That child waited. He watched the other parents arrive. Pick up their children. Leave. And his mom didn’t come. She’ll never come. Never again. Because a federal agent fired a shot. Because the U.S. government decided that was acceptable. How do you explain that to a 6-year-old? How do you tell him that his mom is dead because the president wanted to show his strength? That she was sacrificed for a political message? You can’t. There are no words. There is only emptiness. Absence. The silence that screams.

The other victims: a terrorized community

But Renee isn’t the only victim. There are the 2,000 people detained by ICE in Minneapolis. The separated families. The children who come home from school and can’t find their parents. The workers arrested at their jobs. People arrested on the street because they “look suspicious.” There are U.S. citizens detained, interrogated, and humiliated because they speak Spanish or because they live in the “wrong” neighborhood. There are students who are afraid to go to school. Clark Hoelscher, a teacher, says: “We have students and families who are afraid to be at school. It’s really hard when I have a student who misses school. I’m just afraid of what happened to them or what happened to their family.”

There are the protesters who were tear-gassed. Those who were hit with flash-bangs. Those who were beaten. Those who were arrested. There are Renee’s neighbors crying in front of her house. Laying down flowers. Candles. Chanting her name. “Say it once. Say it twice. We will not put up with ICE.” There is an entire traumatized community. Terrorized. A community that no longer feels safe in its own city. That’s afraid to go outside. That’s afraid of uniforms. That’s afraid of the government that’s supposed to protect it. And there’s the rest of the country watching. Wondering: Is this going to happen here too? Is Chicago next? Los Angeles? New York? Are we all in danger now?

That’s the goal of state-sponsored terror. Not just to punish those who resist. But to terrorize everyone. To ensure that no one dares to resist. That no one dares to protest. That no one dares to say no. Because if you say no, you could end up like Renee. You could be tear-gassed. Arrested. Detained. Killed. And no one will be held accountable. No one will be held accountable. Because it’s the government. Because it’s Trump. Because this is America in 2026. And if you think this couldn’t happen where you live, think again. Because Renee probably thought the same thing. She thought she was safe. That she was an American citizen. That the government couldn’t kill her for no reason. She was wrong. And you might be wrong, too.

Where are the checks and balances?

We were promised that the institutions would hold firm. That American democracy was strong. That even if a president wanted to abuse his power, there would be safeguards. Congress. The courts. The media. Public opinion. Members of his own Cabinet. Someone, somewhere, would say no. Someone would stop the madness. But look where we are now. The Republican-controlled Congress is applauding. The courts are filled with Trump-appointed judges. Fox News justifies everything. Public opinion is divided, polarized to the point that half the country will defend anything as long as it’s Trump doing it. And the Cabinet? Filled with loyalists. With people who say yes. Always “yes.” Mark Esper is gone. No one left to say, “Mr. President, we can’t do that.” No one left to remind him of the limits. The laws. The Constitution.

The safeguards have disappeared. One by one. Methodically. Trump has spent four years learning. Identifying obstacles. Eliminating them. Testing the limits. And now, there are no limits left. He can do whatever he wants. Send 2,000 federal agents into a city. Let them kill citizens. Defend the killers. Invoke the Insurrection Act. Deploy the military against the people. And no one is going to stop him. No one can stop him. Because he has the power. And he knows how to use it. And he’s no longer afraid of the consequences. Because there are no more consequences.

I remember the debates in 2016. When people said, “He can’t really do that. The institutions will hold. Democracy will survive.” And then 2020. “He can’t really refuse to leave. He can’t really incite an insurrection.” And now 2026. “He can’t really invoke the Insurrection Act. He can’t really send the military against citizens.” Every time, we tell ourselves it’s impossible. That it can’t happen. That someone will stop him. And every time, we’re wrong. Because he does it. He really does it. And no one stops him. So now, I no longer ask myself what he can’t do. I ask myself: what’s going to stop him? And the answer terrifies me. Because I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Renee’s son is still waiting

Somewhere in Minneapolis, a 6-year-old boy is trying to understand why his mom hasn’t come back. Why she’ll never come back. His grandfather said it: “There’s nobody else in his life.” No one left. His father died in 2023. His mother died in 2026. He’s alone. At age 6. And the government that killed his mother says it was justified. Necessary. That the officer had “federal immunity.” That it was self-defense. And now, that same government is threatening to send in the army. To “restore order.” To “protect citizens.” But protect them from what? From whom? From the people who say that killing a mother of three is wrong? From the people who are protesting? From the people who dare to say no?

The Christmas decorations are still on the porch of Renee’s house. Neighbors are laying down flowers. Candles. They’re chanting her name. They’re crying. They’re afraid. Because they know that if it can happen to Renee, it can happen to anyone. To them. To their children. To their neighbors. To their friends. No one is safe. Not anymore. Not in Trump’s America in 2026. Not when the president can send agents who kill with impunity. Not when he can threaten to send the army against protesters. Not when there are no more limits. No more safeguards. No more justice.

I think of that little boy. Six years old. An orphan. And I wonder: what do we tell him? How do we explain to him that his mom died because the president wanted to show his strength? That she was sacrificed for a political message? That she was killed to create a pretext? We can’t. There are no words. There’s only emptiness. Absence. Silence. And the question that haunts me, that wakes me up at night, that tightens my throat: how many more Renee Goods before someone says “stop”? How many more orphaned children? How many more mothers killed? How many more cities in flames? How many more times will we tell ourselves, “This can’t happen,” before we realize it’s already happened? That it’s happening right now? That it will keep happening? Until someone, somewhere, finds the courage to say: enough. ENOUGH. But who? Who will say it? And when? Because time is running out. And Renee’s son is still waiting. He’s waiting for someone to tell him that his mom is coming back. But she won’t come back. Ever again. And no one will be punished. No one will be held accountable. Because this is Trump’s America. And in this America, killing a mother of three is just the beginning.

I am not a journalist, but a columnist. I am an analyst, an observer of the political and social dynamics that shape our world. My work consists of dissecting strategies of power, understanding authoritarian movements, and anticipating democratic abuses. I do not claim to possess the cold objectivity of traditional journalism. I strive for clarity, sincere analysis, and a deep understanding of the issues that concern us all.

This text respects the fundamental distinction between verified facts and interpretive commentary. The factual information presented in this article comes from official and verifiable sources, including government statements, press releases from the Department of Homeland Security, reports from recognized international news agencies such as Reuters, CNN, BBC News, ABC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and PBS NewsHour, as well as data from the American Immigration Council and official statements on Truth Social.

The analyses and interpretations presented here constitute a critical synthesis based on information available as of January 15, 2026. My role is to interpret these facts, contextualize them, make sense of them, and express the legitimate emotions they evoke. Any subsequent developments could alter the perspectives presented here.