Let's make Minneapolis Donald Trump's Waterloo

It's time for Democrats to press the attack.

Donald Trump’s assault on Minneapolis will be a landmark event in American politics. Everywhere right now, there’s evidence that Americans who aren’t Democrats or even Democratic-leaning are choosing to believe their own eyes over the administration’s obviously false explanation for Alex Pretti’s execution. Even the regime’s strongest defenders—from the NRA to Fox News—seem to be uneasy or downright unwilling to play along with Trump’s lies about the murder his goons committed in broad daylight on Saturday. A quick look around r/Conservative—the Reddit community for conservatives—shows that this reaction is far from isolated. Across the country, people who are in many ways as far removed from a resistance demonstrator as it’s possible to be are coming to the same conclusion as your average No Kings participant: that this regime is dragging the U.S. into authoritarianism.

Trump is politically vulnerable right now. But what happens next depends in part on the opposition. If Democrats want to turn this moment into a real inflection point—permanently cratering Trump’s popularity and MAGA’s power—they need to go all in on this fight. The people of Minneapolis and others all across our country have already been throwing down in incredibly inspiring ways. It’s time for our opposition party to join them.

What does that mean for Democrats? The bare minimum requires refusing to hand billions of dollars more to the government agency openly executing people in the streets. This is nonnegotiable. And thankfully, in the wake of Alex Pretti’s murder, Senate Democrats seem to be coalescing around that position. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced that Democrats will not vote for the DHS funding bill without changes to “restrain, reform, and restrict ICE.” And with the government funding deadline approaching on January 30, if Schumer can effectively whip and unify his caucus—as Hakeem Jeffries couldn’t or wouldn’t last week—that will mean a government shutdown.

Then what? One path forward would be for Democrats to follow the same playbook they used for the last shutdown—do some run-of-the-mill messaging, wait a couple weeks until enough Senate Democrats decide to give in, and then pass the offensive legislation unchanged. But what if we closed our eyes and imagined, for a moment, how a maximally effective opposition party might respond to these events? When I try this exercise, here’s what I see.

When the government shuts down, Congressional Democrats head, en masse, to Minneapolis. “Trump’s regime has launched an all-out attack on an American city—an attack that will be repeated against more of our communities if it’s not stopped there,” they announce. “Democrats are committed to protecting Americans from these assaults on our rights and our persons, so we are getting on a plane and going where those assaults are strongest.” Wherever possible, they ask local reporters from their states or districts to join them on their trip, to communicate about the reality on the ground. (Some Democratic content creation teams might be a good idea, too.) When they arrive, Democratic leaders join in the frontline organizing happening in Minneapolis. They don’t just stay for a quick photo op and then bail. They do ridealongs with “commuters”—the activists following Border Patrol vehicles around the city. They join the legal observers recording clashes between Minneapolis residents and the militia forces occupying their city. They put on gas masks when ICE fires tear gas at them; they stand with parents protecting their schools.

This work would do three things. First, it would drive endless, round-the-clock coverage—not just in national media, but in hundreds of regional outlets covering local Democratic leaders—of Trump’s violent goons doing all the horrific, un-American, Constitution-trashing abuses that most voters can’t stomach.

Second, it would likely lead to some sort of win—even if it’s just a full end to Trump’s siege of Minneapolis—as Trump’s approval ratings sink lower and lower and the regime recognizes the political damage they are doing to themselves. Seeing that Trump can really be beaten would further strengthen the resistance movement, as people sense a momentum shift.

And third, it would give Democrats an opportunity to show the American people that they do, in fact, have some backbone after all. This is one of the Democratic Party’s key liabilities right now—it lacks credibility. A recent poll found that fewer than one in five Americans believe the Democratic Party is the party that can “get things done.” People don’t believe Democrats will do what they say they’ll do; they don’t trust them to follow through, to stand up to power, to commit to fights. It’s hard to think of a better solution to this problem than an explosion of content featuring Democratic leaders acting with what—to most non-MAGA voters—will be seen as undeniable courage, in opposition to undeniable tyranny.

Normal people appreciate seeing leaders actually walk the walk. When you watch someone put their body on the line to oppose something awful—even if it’s someone you might have disliked before—you can’t help but respect their chutzpah and commitment.

That respect is exactly what the Democratic Party lacks. It’s what it needs to turn a vulnerable moment for this unpopular administration into a complete rout. The whole country is watching—why not demonstrate to America that, as Republicans skulk about in fear of displeasing their dear leader, Democrats have the courage to stand for their convictions?

You could say this vision is a naive daydream. Based on recent history, the idea that Democrats would display this kind of leadership right now is hard to imagine. And yet, there’s nothing technically unrealistic, or even that challenging, about this strategy. It just takes some initiative and some bravery. That shouldn’t be too much to ask, or demand, from our only opposition party. So let’s demand it.

The Trump administration is waging a campaign of terror against its own population. They are attacking children, abusing elders, and treating an entire city of Americans like enemy combatants. They’re trampling on the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution (at the very least). And now they’re literally murdering civilians in the street. It’s all too horrifying to fully comprehend. But there is one source of light in the darkness. The regime has miscalculated. They seem to have assumed that the American people are as deprived of humanity as they are. But they’re not. Americans are repulsed by what’s happening in Minneapolis, and they are putting the blame where it belongs. This could be Donald Trump’s Waterloo. Let’s press the attack.

This essay appeared in The New Republic, an excellent outlet.

Oh, one more thing! For anyone who, like me, lives in Rhode Island, I wanted to flag an Indivisible rally I’m helping to organize today (Tuesday) at 5:30 p.m. calling on Rhode Island’s senators to stand strong against funding ICE. Click here for more details. Thanks!